Pershing plants trees
Critics may contend that a lot of Wall Street's output is hot air.
Critics may contend that a lot of Wall Street’s output is hot air.
Still, in terms of its actual environmental impact, the financial business is pretty clean — and Pershing LLC wants to make it even cleaner.
Pershing, the largest provider of trading, clearing and other operational services to brokerage firms, would like end users of its services — individual investors — to go paperless. So the Jersey City, N.J.-based unit of The Bank of New York Mellon Corp., which also provides services to registered investment advisers, is appealing to the public’s heightened ecological awareness.
The company has made an initial $25,000 donation to the Arbor Day National Foundation of Nebraska City, Neb., and will donate an additional $1 between July 1 and Dec. 31 for each customer of a client firm who switches to receiving an electronic statement.
Each dollar will buy a tree to be planted by the foundation.
“We’ve pledged to donate up to $250,000, which will go toward planting as many as 250,000 trees in fire-ravaged national parks,” said John Colao, a Pershing managing director and executive committee member who heads the company’s e-delivery efforts.
Although some Wall Street forecasters are speaking metaphorically about economic and market “green shoots,” Pershing seems to be taking “green” literally.
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