Gatehouse introduces paper saving measures

At Gatehouse Bank, we are committed to improving the impact we have on the environment. We are looking at how small changes to the way we do business can have a big impact.

We noticed the process of offering our customers home finance products was paper intensive and required a high volume of domestic and international postage. The unnecessary use of paper drives deforestation with a devastating effect on ecology and biodiversity, as well as contributing to air and water pollution. In a digital world we often do not really need to print; some estimates say that up to half of all documents printed are thrown away within 24 hours.

That’s why we have introduced DocuSign for our offer letters. Using DocuSign means our customers can sign and complete their offer forms digitally - removing the need for printed paper and postage. This will benefit our customers, speeding up the time it takes to process their home finance application and making the process easier for them.

We have also removed the need for certain paper-based tax forms, saving paper and making our processes more efficient.

This activity highlights that taking action that benefits the planet, can benefit our business too.

What does saving paper do? It preserves trees required to make paper, saves water needed to make paper, avoids waste associated with that paper and, because the paper was not made, it spares our planet of CO2 emissions.

We anticipate that these changes to the way we manage processes at the Bank will save the use of up to 30,000 sheets of A4 paper per year – as well as avoiding all the carbon emissions associated with domestic and international postage.

We know that this is just one small step as part of our larger ambition to improve the Bank’s environmental impact and reduce our avoidable carbon emissions. We are celebrating our progress and wanted to share it with you.

Find out how we are committed to responsible banking here.