US bank Wells Fargo is launching a Web-based storage facility, called vSafe, that will allow its retail banking customers to store and organise digital copies of important documents online.
The service - which is the online equivalent of a safety deposit box - will allow customers to securely store documents such as financial statements, loan and tax documents, wills, passports and birth, marriage and death certificates in an electronically secure centralised location.
The VSafe system can be accessed online and will be integrated with Wells Fargo's online banking service. The service can store Word documents, PDFs, Excel spreadsheets, photos, audio and video files. Account statements automatically uploaded.
All account information is encrypted from when it leaves the user's computer to the time it enters the bank's system. In addition, customers can request additional security devices.
Wells Fargo says the system also helps users organise documents with standard folders such as 'medical', 'legal' and 'Family' which can be modified and deleted by the customer.
"Compared to home filing systems, which can be difficult to maintain and organise, the Wells Fargo vSafe service gives customers peace of mind because it's a safe place to store, organise and protect copies of private information," adds Jim Smith, EVP and head of Internet services group, Wells Fargo.
Wells Fargo says the service will enable customers to easily access and recover copies of critical documents in the event of a natural disaster, theft or hard drive crash, or while travelling.