How Banks Are Ensuring Customer Safety, Upgrading Security System

In a highly customer-centric sector like banking, customer service and experience are of paramount importance. Being a part of the service industry, it has become crucial than ever for banks to keep upgrading the security norms, believe experts.

Taking into consideration the various developments in the area of banking and technology, nature of consumer grievances and also the feedback received from banks and Indian Banks’ Association (IBA), in August, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) came up with modified guidelines on the safe deposit lockers to address the concerns of the customers regarding the safety lockers.

The decision was based on the case ‘Amitabha Dasgupta vs. United Bank of India’ on February 19, 2021, when the Supreme Court directed the Central bank to issue suitable rules and regulations on the responsibility of banks on various aspects of safe deposit lockers. RBI’s revised guidelines will come to effect from January 1, 2022 and as experts believe can become a game changer in the banking industry.

Talking about the changing the security landscape in the banking sector, Col. Tejinder Singh Shahi, CSO at Punjab National Bank says, “Customers trust banks for the safety and security of their items stored in the lockers and they place the maximum faith in their banks. So it is the responsibility of the banks to give them the assurance that the items stored in banks are safe.”

“As digital technologies are taking a center stage, it becomes important for all the industries to adopt the advancements in technology, especially the banking industry. In that regard, one of the key aspects is that of integrating electronic surveillance, which will play a major part of security systems in times to come. It’s already an essential part, but it has to expand its role in the security domain.

Now in the view of the revised guidelines by the RBI, banks may cover the entry and exit of the strong room and the common areas of operation under CCTV camera and preserve its recording for a period of not less than 180 days., which was earlier for 90 days.”

Shahi informs PNB imparted an electronic surveillance in a remote location for the ATMs as well as branches. With the branches, the strong room is the place where the lockers are kept. As far as the security systems are concerned, whether it is the burglary alarm or a fire alarm system or the CCTV system, the bank connected them to a panel which had the capability of integrating Artificial Intelligence and that enabled remote monitoring of the entire system.

“The advantage here is that security at the bank generally reacts to a situation. We wanted to adopt a system where we could be proactive and prevent the occurrence of such instances rather than reacting to an unforeseen incident. So this electronic surveillance, which acts in a productive manner, enables the reaction to come as soon as an incident is triggered and the remote service enables warning the agency that is concerned with security agencies or fire agencies or the bank itself, which can take timely action. In many cases, we have realized that remote monitoring and advanced information have saved the day,” he explains.

Since the safe deposit lockers are always in a strong room and lockers cannot be directly monitored under the CCTV surveillance because that leads to intrusion of privacy, what can be done is that the strong room must have a direct view by the CCTV camera, he believes.

If any unfortunate event occurs in any bank, the customers might start to lose faith in the bank or the branch in particular and assume that their stored items are no longer safe. This is definitely a no-go for the banks. Banks are thus looking at adopting more secure and technology led security systems that can withstand any man-made or natural hazards.

Tech vendors are also striving to come up with new and innovative banking security solution at the backdrop of the revised RBI guidelines for safe deposit lockers at banks. Godrej Security Solutions for example has launched Godrej Inteli-Access, a new age lockers’ system that is designed to offer customers the convenience of a key less access, eliminates forgery and fraud, by reducing dependence on manual interventions.

Some of the key features of the product include thumbprint verification which confirms bio-signature, interactive networking authenticates the Actual customer, secure instant keyless access eliminates risks of unauthorized access, unlocking is easy with a smartcard or a biometric access.

Pushkar Gokhale, Vice President & Global Head – Marketing & Sales, Godrej Security Solutions says this intelligent locker system, along with customized Software which will help Banks to track the entire journey of the customer right from the authentication as he or she enters the Locker room and returns post usage of the Locker.

“A log shall be created on who came in, at what time and left at what time. A RFID based card or a Biometric system is deployed for entry into the Locker room and also opening and closing of the Locker. The CCTV capturing of the images is also possible built-in to the access control. This will enable Banks to offer peace of mind and comfort to their customers, through the additional layers of Security,” he says.

These and other innovative technology solutions are keeping the criminals at bay in the banking sectors. Despite that security teams in banks face tremendous pressure due to the rapid digital transformations in the past year.

Capt. Akhilesh Kumar, CSO at Bank of India explains, “Prior to Covid-19 pandemic, the banking and financial services industry was already evolving at a rapid pace, driven by changing consumer expectations, increased competition and new entrants along with the advancement of technology. However, the pandemic has accelerated customer’s expectations, and made them more conscious about their banking preferences.”

He believes, while banks are focusing on upgrading their security systems in due course of time, a lot needs to be done to ensure safety of the customers’ data. As payments have almost completely shifted online to a contactless mode, establishing important processes such as two step verification, and ensuring no fraud takes place is of utmost importance. Even data stored on biometric, RFID cards etc, which are being increasingly used these days, need to have an added layer of safety. The ability to lead from home, and ensuring the safety of customer valuables from home will be a major challenge next decade.

On the upcoming security trends in the banking industry in the next 12-16 months, Col. Sujit Mondal – CSO of UCO Bank comments, “One of the trends that we will see in the next couple of years is the upgradation of banking security systems as well as proactive e-surveillance to monitor systems with the objective of keeping a track of customers’ entry, exit, login, biometric security etc. From the perspective of customer demands, we are expecting an integration of a physical security system that will offer a seamless and hassle-free service experience.”

According to him, the pandemic has led to the popularity of mobile banking apps which is exponentially increasing. However, to safeguard sensitive data which is available on the tip of your fingers, it is important to implement mobile banking security features such as two-factor authentication and biometrics. With the evolution of innovative technologies, the finance and banking sector is quickly transforming.