Bank security, more than taking care of banknotes

Throughout the history of cinema there have been many films in which assaults on banks or places where large amounts of money are kept have been presented. Not to go too far we have the new version of Batman: "The Dark Knight". In the film "The Joker", the eternal enemy of the bat man, carries out in the company of a series of common criminals a spectacular robbery in which there was no lack of shots and great destruction of the property. Although there have also been discreet ones such as the one made in the film Ocean's Eleven or the Great Scam as it was translated in many Latin American countries.

This comment serves as an opener for this article in which we will discuss electronic security in banks and the aspects that must be taken into account when planning solutions for companies of this type.

It is worth saying that sometimes the fiction of the seventh art is confused with the reality of our countries. Faith in this was the robbery carried out in October 1994 in Valledupar, capital of the department of Cesar, northern Colombia, by a group of men who entered through a tunnel to the vault of the Bank of the Republic, the Colombian central bank. By then the "friends of others" seized the sum of $ 24 thousand 75 million, violating all the security systems of the entity.

In the Colombian case, that is not a problem that is part of the past, less for a capital city like Cali, in the west of the country, where in the course of 2008 there have been 10 bank robberies and one to a stock car. The latest bank robbery occurred on August 4 at the Bancolombia branch of the Chipichape Shopping Center, in the north of the city, in which about 10 heavily armed men took the sum of $480 million. The episode ended with a confrontation with the police in which there were no casualties.

This panorama highlights the importance of the issue of banking security, not only with regard to the possibility of preventing assaults from being consummated, but also in the process of identifying and prosecuting the assailants.

Let's talk about security

A bank is offered as the right place to put in good custody the material flows, in addition to offering the possibility of profitability of money. The premise is that keeping the goods in a financial institution is safer than having them at home or under the mattress, as the ancestors did.

The security represented by financial institutions is based on security technologies, software and hardware, as well as internal policies and procedures. But these measures must be subject to criteria such as: the risks to which the bank is exposed, the volume of funds and securities that are kept in the bank office, the geographical and commercial location of the same, the accident rate of the region where the office is located. In the Colombian case, the criteria for evaluating banking security for an entity will not be the same for Medellín, Bogotá or Cali, three of the most important capitals of the country, with the figures of bank robberies that we previously indicated in the latter city.

For the realization of this article two experts in the field: Carlos Beltrán, general manager of Xel Seguridad Integral Ltda, a company with extensive experience in Colombia in the field of banking security and Héctor R. Torres, vice president and director of Asset Protection of Banco Popular de Puerto Rico, they offered their knowledge for their writing. With them, the most important aspects when installing a security system for a bank were analyzed. {mospagebreak}

Beltrán explained that "the following analysis factors must be taken into account from the design perspective of the Risk Map, on which the situations to which the bank can be exposed are determined: threat and vulnerability. The threat is established taking into account the chances of a robbery, robbery, terrorist attack, riot, fire, etc. Vulnerability determines the critical points of the property such as its location within a periphery, surrounding buildings by type, age, construction and architectural conditions, type and quality of neighbors, access roads, etc. The architecture of the property itself must also be analyzed, within the conception of determining whether or not it complies with basic design conditions that allow minimizing risks. "

For his part, Torres pointed out that the aspects that must be taken into account in the installation of a security system depend on "the system that is being installed. You take into consideration the type of system, price and its capabilities.  Another important factor outside the price would be who does the installation."

All part of the need

Banking security solutions are designed seeking risk minimization, using state-of-the-art electronic systems that encompass the basic security rings: perimeter ring, inner ring and one to protect cash handling areas such as warehouses, safes and ATMs.

After the Risk Map is designed, which basically starts from the architectural model and its qualities and deficiencies, the safety standard to be installed is adjusted and determined. In that sense, Torres points out that "from the point of view of security, the analysis must be based on the type of business of the client, as well as the risks and vulnerabilities they face. The implementation of the solution must take into consideration the needs of the present and the needs of the future."

In many cases the buildings are built without taking into account the security needs that the type of business demands. That is why physical conditions influence, positively or negatively, when installing security systems. "The installation process depends on the design, because sometimes the aesthetics of the premises must be sacrificed for the required security, in order not to alter the architectural conditions of the property," said Beltrán.

In short, the solutions that must be implemented within a bank are chosen based on the criteria of facilities and security and the security procedures applied to each organization, which are adjusted and designed according to each one and based on the risk map.

Analog vs Digital

One of the topics that we wanted to address with this pair of experts was to integrate analog systems with recent technologies. Both agreed that it brings better benefits for customers to completely change the analog system. "We suggest changing it completely, as it is clear that analog technology no longer provides the same utility and functionality that was required in the past. Nowadays this technology does not fulfill the same purposes, because digital systems allow multiple and greater benefits quantified in time, productivity, security results, information analysis capacity, quality of information, efficiency in the administration of security and costs associated with losses due to illicit activities. " said Carlos Beltran.

For his part, Héctor Torres referred to it as follows: "experience tells me that it is cheaper to change the system in its entirety instead of trying to integrate it with others. There is always the exception, but usually trying to integrate analog systems with digital systems produces multiple problems in the future."

However,  trying to integrate analog and digital systems is just one of the problems faced by people and companies in charge of installing a security system. The main one is the same buildings in which the devices are installed, since the design of the structures does not fit the needs of the security system. That is why specialists recommend that both designs (architectural and security) be made simultaneously; in this way, having to modify the buildings or facilities for the installation of cables, cameras and other equipment, additional expenses are incurred.

Now that the issue of budgets is touched, Beltrán considers it a great inconvenience when it is reduced since "it does not allow access to the ideal security system and required to provide the necessary protection."

Current trends

Regarding the multiplicity of equipment offered by the market for the issue of banking security, Beltrán believes that the ones that are being implemented the most and offer greater benefits to these entities are those that allow the integration of alarms, digital CCTV, access controls and lock systems. "The benefits are that banks can count on interactive, efficient systems that allow them to develop an administrative control of their security in a more secure way, with timely and truthful information, while allowing them to have security systems designed especially for their needs."

On the other hand, Torres said that the most used today are digital recording systems with digital archiving capacity for transactions and wireless alarm systems.
But what does a bank gain by implementing adequate security systems? The answer can be answered from the basics such as the possibility of protecting the assets that are in it and the personnel who work in it or visit it daily, to the increase of aspects such as credibility, security, image, support and trust of its customers.