In recent weeks some Lloyds customers who have chosen to receive their statements by post have received a letter from savings director Darren Tong headed ‘Your statements are paper-free’.

The letter stated: “We wrote to you at the end of last year to let you know we needed to send your statements for [specified account] paper-free. At the time, an issue at our print supplier meant we couldn’t print as many statements as usual. This is now fixed.”

The banking group was impacted by the collapse of Communisis last year and was one of a raft of financial customers that propped up the stricken business with more than £21m of interim funding to keep its presses turning.

The recent letter states that customers don’t need to do anything further “to remain paper-free”.

If, however, they want to continue receiving paper statements, they need to let Lloyds know by updating their preferences via its mobile banking app, internet banking service, or by calling or visiting a branch.

A Lloyds spokesperson told Printweek that the bank had to make sure customers received regular statement information about their accounts.

“Customers who don’t bank online will continue to receive paper statements, there is no change for them and any customer can get in touch to discuss their statements”.

Lloyds Banking Group encompasses several brands including Halifax, Bank of Scotland, Scottish Widows and MBNA.

In its 2023 Sustainability Report, the group said it was testing new customer communications solutions with more digital correspondence that “not only responds to what customers tell us they want but also reduces reliance on paper and post”, which it said represented a small part of its commitment to achieving sustainability targets.

Last year a further 5m Lloyds Banking Group customers went paper-free, taking its total number of paperless customers to 20.5m for products where that is an option.

The overall group has 26m customers.