Now that bins have gone, junior bankers are taking old pitchbooks home

Most banks these days are pushing for low-carbon low-paper environments. But they seem to have reckoned without one thing: the reams of paper created by printing-out the pitchbooks created by analysts and associates and used by senior bankers to win business. 

The new offices in European financial centres are a case in point. Analysts at one U.S. bank in Frankfurt say it has taken advantage of the move to go 'paper free.' While this might sound like a good idea in principle, in practice they say it means there are no bins in the office and that analysts are having to take matters into their own hands.

"We are taking the paper home," says one insider at the bank. "It's become a topic of conversation among analysts and associates - how to create pitchbooks for customers without printing them out and proofreading them."

It's not the only bank reducing its waste. Goldman Sachs ditched single-use plastic products in its offices and cafeterias in January this year. 

Deutsche Bank appears to be bucking the trend. According to information published in last year's annual report, consumption of paper by the bank fell by a mere 3.4% in 2018, to 3,612 tons. Divided by full-time employees this amounts to 38kg per head. 

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