Banco Azteca's security experience

By: Ana Alarcón Barreto
New security technologies are a vital tool for banks and securities entities, as it allows them to offer their customers the peace of mind of maintaining surveillance 24 hours a day, with the possibility of capturing criminal acts and countering them immediately.

Likewise, the latest generation cameras have a clear image with which faithful shots of the punishable acts are achieved, which are used as evidentiary material before the authorities, thus supporting the security measures implemented by governments in the world.

This is the case of Mexico, a country plagued by high crime rates. In 2002, the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit issued a basic regulation for the security of credit institutions, including real-time monitoring and alarm systems, as well as means of communication, video or recording of digital images for 30 days and window installations, among other standards.

An example of the use of new surveillance and monitoring technologies is offered by Banco Azteca, a young financial institution that was born in 2002 and is part of the Elektra Group, recognized for its trajectory of more than 50 years in the market of credit appliance stores.

This entity began its work almost on par with the security regulations of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, so it was one of the first to adopt a new digital surveillance system.

Captain Gerardo Reyes Bermúdez, Director of Prevention and Risks of the group, gives an overview of the restructuring process of Banco Azteca's surveillance system. A project that was commissioned by the integrating firm Otwo S.A de C.V, which in turn opted for the company Samsung as a manufacturer of the equipment.

"The equipment is placed by requirements of the banking law, but not only has it served us for that, we are a sui generis bank because we have an appliance store at the same time, we have clarified illicit not only of a banking type, but of merchandise in the Elektra Stores, and although the cameras were initially placed for the bank, we have managed to clarify frauds with customers, theft of goods, operation, supervision of sales people, that is, it served us for much more than complying with a law," said the director.

The monitoring unit needed features that at that time were not on the market, such as the "panic button" or assault, since the National Securities Commission demanded that the images of the illicit acts begin to be sent simultaneously, one minute prior to the occurrence of the crime, that is, when the assault button was pressed, the team began to send one minute before and one minute after the event.

Captain Reyes recalls that until then no team did it, the firms Otwo and Samsung presented a project so that they could meet technical requirements, such as that the images could not weigh more than 30 Kbs, which had to record at various speeds, but at least at two quarters per second.

"The team was installed in each of the 1,500 bank branches that we have in addition to the branches in Central and South America, among those involved is a monitoring center where the images of the illicit arrive, we immediately send them to the authorities to upload to a portal and make a bulletin of the criminals, "- explains the manager.

Before integrating the system they had recordings on videotapes in VHS format, with a time-lapped video recorder, which warns the Captain, generated some problems such as the dependence of the manager for the change of tape, with the risk that the manager forgot the task and the information was lost, the tapes could only be rewound to make a recording, medium to poor quality; another drawback was the cost of buying the material, which needed a periodic change, in addition to having to resort to sending the copies to banks located in remote areas of the geography and finally, since the system was not automated they depended on a third party to obtain the recordings.

With the implementation of the new technology, radical advances were achieved, since it is fully digitized, the solution is a DVR with the capacity to record up to 30 days and expandable up to approximately 1024 GB, with which they obtain up to 90 days of continuous recording.

As they are connected via IP they manage to make copies without the equipment having to stop recording, at the same time they have the advantage that the device is triple so they can record, consult and transmit images at the same time. The cost was minimized, the quality is high definition, in addition information leaks are avoided since the recordings are stored on the Internet.

As for the technical specifications, the Samsung and Otwo cameras were chosen, the latter are Dmax color equipment day and night, with automatic lens adjustment according to the change of light, which automatically solves the problems of luminosity, they also provide high quality images with 420 lines of resolution, compared to those they had previously.

The LAN network is satellite and can be directed from a remote control center that monitors the activities of the branches inside and outside Mexican territory. This system has an image application known as Smartviewer, which allows the administrator with just one click to choose the site or branch that he wants to monitor, allowing to obtain a recording in real time, throwing data such as dates and images without the system stopping working.

Additionally, the equipment has outputs from which alarms and lights can be connected to a panel, also interacting with other systems such as Ademco security and fire controls, without causing conflicts.

From the previous technology they only rescued the cameras, since the previous equipment only allowed one entry. The technology designed by Samsung allows at least four inputs and up to 16, which they use according to the special requirements of each section of the bank.

When inquiring about the process of choosing the system, Captain Reyes Bermúdez explains that "when we were starting the project we were studying about six or seven equipment, some were very good but very expensive, others did more things than we have today, but in reality we did not need more, this team gave us a very good price, below those of the market."

They were then important factors such as the recognition that the Samsung brand and the Otwo integrator have, which guaranteed them the continuity of the equipment, a decision they made after two years of technical studies.

Setbacks
During the four years in which the project has been executed, certain problems have arisen, which Captain Reyes catalogs as typical of the implementation of the system, since they were in the process of learning to know and adapt to the new software.

Among the technical problems they suffered, is the change of schedule that is made by seasons in the Mexican nation, with the first versions of the software had to send a technician to program the system manually. Today the problem is solved, the programming is done from the central, connecting remotely to the equipment that needs the update anywhere inside and outside the country.

They have also faced the damage of around 60 equipment, which is considered within the normal, since they succumb to factors such as variations in voltages that according to Reyes Bermúdez, is typical of the electrical structure of Mexico, an external factor that affects them.

In general, says the manager, the result obtained with the integration with Otwo and Samsung has been favorable, they receive advice and technical support when required, which leaves them satisfied.

"The system is already installed but if new branches are emerging, we will install this security system in each one, in addition the Smartviewer behaves very well," concluded Captain Gerardo Reyes.