LBG paper statement "issues"

Nasqueron

Naecredit said:

Bank is obviously trying to nudge people away from paper statements to save money. Statements are still routinely requested as proof of address & printing your own will not meet the requirements. Petty Halifax didn't just come out & state their intension honestly. If unhappy, complain then raise with Ombudsman.

Some places will accept it and I'm not sure how routine this is, I have not been asked for proof of address via a paper copy of a statement for a long time, my driving licence already does this.

Nasqueron

Lions_89 said:

MrFrugalFever said:

Lions_89 said:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2023/11/12/bank-statement-shortage-print-supplier-face-cash-crunch/

“The future of the humble paper bank statement is at stake amid a cash crunch at the main print supplier to Britain’s big high street banks.

A finance industry-led rescue operation to save Leeds-based Communisis is being spearheaded by Lloyds but hopes of a salvage deal were fading this weekend.

It is understood the advisory firm Interpath has been put on standby amid concerns that the company faces the growing threat of insolvency. An estimated 1,000 jobs are at risk.

Fears for the future of the business have been heightened after Lloyds took the unusual step of telling some customers they would be switched to online statements without explaining the reason for the move.”

Imagine the amount of people who have access to these paper statements and private information, all ready to fold and place in an envelope to send to the customers. I'll stick with online statements thanks!

Sorry but I don’t trust digital fully. I like to have paper statements for my mortgage. Same with cash really. Three times in the last two weeks various shops had issues. You can’t trust digital.

Digital is far more trustworthy than paper copies with your details on which can be intercepted. Payment details locked behind finger print or face ID vs a wallet of cash being stolen and ID fraud !

GTR_King

Why you think that? 

I know paper copies can be intercepted but rarely happens unless I am wrong!

With digital copies what if the servers go down etc 

I trust paper copies more! 

Just my opinion 

xylophone

I have accounts with a number of banks but for ease of on line access definitely prefer Lloyds.

retiredbanker1

GTR_King said:

when I asked my local branch ages ago for some bank statements they printed last 3 months of Transactions not official Bank Statements, 

didn't think branch can print official statements (like ones you get in the post/Online PDF Statements) unless this has changed,

I am sure Lloyds will get this issue fixed soon, 

The first page has your name and address on it then the list of transactions - all the details that would be on a 'proper' statement.
If you require a 'proper' copy you can do it yourself using online banking.

GTR_King

I know you can use online banking just thought branch would do proper paper statements etc 

Yorkie1

retiredbanker1 said:

GTR_King said:

when I asked my local branch ages ago for some bank statements they printed last 3 months of Transactions not official Bank Statements, 

didn't think branch can print official statements (like ones you get in the post/Online PDF Statements) unless this has changed,

I am sure Lloyds will get this issue fixed soon, 

The first page has your name and address on it then the list of transactions - all the details that would be on a 'proper' statement.
If you require a 'proper' copy you can do it yourself using online banking.

I believe that in some circumstances, a bank statement that you have printed off from your online account will not be accepted; an original bank printed statement is required.

username

Hopefully there should be a return to business as usual soon. According to Print Week (the trade rag of the printing industry) a competitor has bought the element of the statement printing business. Article below:

Communisis has gone into administration with parts of the business immediately sold to a new owner, but more than half its workforce has been laid off.

Administrators from Interpath Advisory were appointed at Communisis Ltd, Communisis UK Ltd, Communisis Digital Ltd and Communisis Data Intelligence Ltd on 28 December.

Immediately afterwards, the Communisis Brand Deployment business and certain assets of the Customer Experience [printed communications] business were sold to Paragon Customer Communications, which trades as Paragon. 

This included the agencies Twelve and Editions and point-of-purchase specialist Vox Group.

The Paragon print deal is primarily for the delivery of services to Lloyds Banking Group and will involve Paragon managing over 100 million communications to and from the bank’s customers annually.

The Brand Deployment wing serves a number of major brands including Procter & Gamble, and operates internationally in more than 20 countries.

Paragon CEO Jeremy Walters commented: “I’m pleased that we’ve been able to close this deal. We’re now looking forward to releasing the potential that’s been created and to giving stability and a clear path forward to our impressive new colleagues and clients.”

Interpath said that 581 jobs had been saved via the Paragon sale, while 25 employees had transferred to new suppliers over the past two months as other customers moved their work out of Communisis.

However, Interpath also said that certain operations at the Communisis facilities in Liverpool, Leeds and Cramlington would cease, and 638 employees have been made redundant as a result.

Interpath said the Communisis Customer Experience business – essentially printed communications – had been hit by challenging trading conditions, declining volumes and rising costs.

The digital transformation programme agreed with Indian outsourcer Tech Mahindra in 2022, which sought to improve the group’s legacy tech platforms “proved to be more complex and costly than originally forecast”.

 

Complex deal

Back in October the Leeds-headquartered group had confirmed it was in "advanced talks” with more than one potential buyer.

However, the situation dragged on, and Communisis appeared increasingly strapped for cash. Major customers including Lloyds stumped up for a multimillion pound ‘Interim Funding Agreement’ to help keep the business afloat, while a raft of other customers jumped ship including HMRC and Nationwide.

Even despite that Lloyds, and other Communisis customers including MBNA, had to steer customers away from paper statements due to the issues at Communisis.

Stephen Absolom, managing director at Interpath Advisory and joint administrator, said: “First and foremost, we recognise that this will come as a devastating blow to those Communisis workers who have been impacted by redundancy.

“Our immediate priority will be to work with all affected employees to ensure that the full range of support is available to them.

“We will be making contact with Communisis’ key competitors, customers and other companies who work in this space to enquire around possible employment opportunities for staff. We will collate all relevant information, including contact details such as telephone numbers and hotlines, and we will also be speaking as a matter of urgency with the Job Centre Rapid Response Unit.

“We are also liaising with the Insolvency Service in relation to the timing of redundancy payments via the Redundancy Payments Service.”

A flurry of LinkedIn posts from former employees seeking new opportunities have appeared in recent hours.

 

Transactional print in decline

The most recent accounts for Communisis, for 2021, detailed a 20% decline at its transactional printing business due to the ongoing switch to digital communications for items such as statements.

Specialist print production at Communisis includes statements, regulatory communications, direct mail and chequebooks. It had produced around 700m information packs and 1.3bn pages per year, to every household in the country.

Communisis had turnover of just under £256m and employed more than 1,000 people in the UK, and around 200 overseas.

Brand deployment had grown to 52% of revenues.

Despite a 6% uplift in sales at its brand deployment sourcing wing, the bottom line loss attributable to the shareholders of then-parent company OSG Holdings was nearly £25m, while the equivalent loss the prior year had been £39.8m.

Interest paid on a £132.4m loan from the parent company was nearly £9m.

OSG had acquired Communisis in 2018 in a near-£154m deal. At the time Communisis had sales of £376m.

US-headquartered OSG Holdings went into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the second time in 14 months in October and said it would cease to be the owner of Communisis when it completed that process.

In early December OSG emerged from Chapter 11, and said it had “exited its UK business”. However, the Communisis situation remained in limbo, with American restructuring expert Michael DiRende stepping in to replace OSG as the controlling party.

Complicating factors impacting the current situation included the Communisis legacy pension fund, which had a £20.8m deficit in the 2021 accounts.

Back in 2012 a rental stream on one of the group’s freehold properties was secured via a Central Asset Reserve Arrangement to help address the pension deficit.

In 2022, Communisis expected to pay £4.98m into the legacy pension scheme, of which £1.15m was rent, and £1.23m in admin costs including the Pension Protection Fund Levy.

There was no information regarding the pension situation at the time of writing.

However, Interpath Advisory managing director and joint administrator James Clark commented: “The complexity of the Communisis business means that this transaction is the culmination of many months of hard work from a wide range of stakeholders. We’d like to thank each of them, in particular the Communisis workforce who have maintained service levels to customers under extremely challenging circumstances.

“In addition, the support and efforts of the Communisis’ customers, suppliers, as well as the Pensions Trustees and regulatory bodies, have ultimately enabled this agreement with Paragon to be reached.”

GingerTim

Doesn't exactly scream 'viable medium-term business'.

GTR_King

Sounds like they gonna get it sorted hopefully for the long term! 

Hopefully better quality statements 

let’s see what happens