With the disastrous floods of 2005 still fresh in the minds of its customer base, New Orleans-based Whitney Bank became one of the first banks to offer customers seven years of online archives (press release here). In past research (here), we found that major financial institutions provided an average of 11 months of online statement storage (see background below). 

Whitney's expanded storage should help it increase its estatement penetration past the already-healthy 33% mark (of online banking users). The bank wisely reminds users that statements are stored online with an "estatement archive" link in its online banking area (see screenshot below). 

However, the bank is missing an opportunity to differentiate itself by not mentioning this important feature on its website. Even the online demo mentions the previous 2-year retention policy. 

Background
In our 2005 report on the subject (here), we reviewed the online archive capabilities at 50 major banks and credit unions and found only two banks offering more than three years of online storage:

• E*Trade Bank provided seven years images, but only 18 to 24 months of transactions and statements
• ING Direct archives all transactions since inception, currently 6.5 years ago, but only a year's worth of statements

At that time, Whitney provided 2 years worth of statement storage, the longest in our survey of 50 banks. 

If anyone knows of other financial institutions offering more than 3 years of online storage, please leave a comment below, or email me and we'll add you to the list. Please include a link to the place on your website where the storage information is documented.