How the Bank of Ghana sought to control entry to the high security areas of its head office in Accra.
The Bank of Ghana sought a flexible and cost effective system to control entry to the high security areas of its head office in Accra. Working through the night in order to avoid disruption to the bank?s normal service, a team from Swindon manufacturers TSSI contended with high humidity and 30 degrees C heat to install the new technology, which combines fingerprint verification, access control and ID card management. The security package, called En Guard, allows only certain staff members access to the restricted areas of the bank at defined times. Of the bank HQ?s 500 employees, between 30 and 40 have this clearance. Templates of the staff members? fingerprints are created using Verid?s software, and are stored in the Verid fingerprint units with the employee?s ID card number. Five Verid fingerprint verification units have been installed at the protected doors of head office. Whenever an individual?s identity needs to be verified, the card is swiped in the reader and the fingerprint scanned and compared to the stored template. If the information corresponds, and the person has valid access rights, the magnetic door lock is automatically released to allow entry. An individual?s specific access rights, which doors they are allowed through and at what times, are set in the EnGuard system. Squadron Leader Jak Dzirasa, Head of Security at the Bank of Ghana Headquarters says: ?The system has been working absolutely perfectly and has greatly improved security.? In addition, all 500 staff at the Bank of Ghana head office have been issued with ID cards containing TSSI?s unique Watermark Magnetic tape. Watermark Magnetics provides each card with a permanent and unique identity that can be verified by card-reading technology to prevent fraud. There are also plans to extend the technology to cover the 5,000 employees working across the bank?s other offices.
