Wall Street & Technology – Javelin Strategy & Research (Pleasanton, Calif.) analyst Mary Monahan notes that the trust Wells Fargo has established with consumers may help adoption of the vSafe service. “Wells Fargo is a name known to them,” she observes. The service, she adds, appears to meet a customer need and gives users a reason to stick with the bank, helping Wells Fargo’s customer-retention efforts.

A Green Solution

In addition to helping customers organize their document storage, the vSafe product also can help the environment, Wells Fargo’s Smith says, adding that the bank sees the service as an extension of its environmental initiatives. It will help customers “lessen their carbon footprints … through online banking,” she explains.

For example, customer statements will be uploaded to their vSafe accounts automatically. Though Javelin’s Monahan says bank customers in general are “not really ready to get rid of their paper statements,” she adds that the new Wells Fargo service is “very green—and secure.”

The cost of the vSafe service to Wells Fargo customers starts at $4.95 a month for one gigabyte of storage—approximately 10,000 documents. The bank initially offered the vSafe service to its team members in March. A public rollout to personal banking customers and small business clients is scheduled for the summer. Read Full Article