UK financial institutions are increasing their spend on security in a bid to quash heightened concerns about disasters, terrorist attack, employee negligence and IT security breaches.
These were just two of the conclusions drawn from research into the financial community’s attitude to, and deployment of, security by security provider Reliance Security Services. The survey, conducted in February, discovered that nearly half of the financial community see disasters (48pc) and terrorist attacks (41pc) as ‘extremely important’ threats (the highest possible level of concern) to their business. In order to deal with these threats, they are deploying a mixture of manned security services (100 per cent of the sample), access control (96pc) and electronic security (85pc). Over the last year, they have increased spending in all three areas – CCTV technology (67pc of the sample), access control (52pc) and manned security (30pc).
<br><br>
What they say
<br><br>
"What we are seeing is banks and other financial institutions reacting to a variety of both national and international factors including, of course, the current political climate and the events of September 11," said Geoff Shewry, Managing Director of Reliance Security Services. "While the survey indicates that a large proportion of financial organisations are now placing a greater emphasis on electronic solutions (56pc), their spending on manned security services is also on the up. This emphasises the fact that the manned security sector has a very vital role to play in the general movement towards total, integrated security solutions." The Reliance survey revealed a number of trends into how financial organisations are deploying security solutions.
<br><br>
Manned security services
<br><br>
Despite indicating an increased movement towards electronic solutions, the survey revealed that nearly 60pc of financial organisations would not consider using security technology to reduce their dependence on manned security at night. The main reason for this is that security officers are responsible for controlling access outside of normal working hours (33pc of respondents). The survey also found that security officers are becoming indispensable by fulfilling a much wider range of roles including reception duties (70pc), electronic surveillance (41pc), building management (37pc) and access control (52pc).
<br><br>
Another interesting trend is the huge extent to which financial organisations value the quality of security personnel. 67pc of respondents consider the calibre of an organisation’s security officers as ‘extremely important’ when selecting a supplier. Service levels (56pc), customer empathy (31pc) and health and safety training (26pc) were also singled out as ‘extremely important’, outweighing price (only 22pc of the sample said this was ‘extremely important’). 96 per cent of the sample also agreed that their security officers are fully trained in how to react in the event of a disaster/terrorist attack. Not surprisingly, 81pc of those surveyed also said they are in favour of regulation of the manned security sector, suggesting that they see this as a big step towards raising standards within the security industry for both customers and security employees alike.
<br><br>
Electronic security
<br><br>
In line with the heightened perceived threats to their business, financial organisations have increased investment in electronic security. Much of this new investment has taken place in the last year – more than 56pc of the sample upgraded their access control systems and 59pc their CCTV systems. The movement towards total, integrated electronic solutions is also evidenced by the fact that 63pc have integrated their access control system with another element of their security. The survey also found that ‘no expense is spared’ when it comes to investing in electronic security. Financial organisations are eager to invest in the latest, cutting edge technology with more than 48pc already having implemented smart card-based access control systems, while 11pc are using the latest biometrics technology.
<br><br>
Disaster recovery
<br><br>
The current political climate has clearly encouraged financial organisations to increase spending on contingency planning over the last year, this being the case for at least half of the sector. However, only 48pc are entirely confident that they have a ‘watertight’ disaster recovery plan in place, indicating that there is still room for investment. Interestingly, most financial organisations draw up their own disaster recovery plans in-house ‘ only 37pc of the sample use third party disaster recovery specialists. "What most financial organisations clearly recognise now is that the way forward lies in developing total, integrated security solutions which encompass both manned and electronic security. At the end of the day, it is vital that all elements of security work together as one to minimise losses and ensure business continuity in the event of a disaster, terrorist attack or other business-threatening event," concluded Mr Shewry. The Reliance survey also discovered that IT security breaches are considered a major threat by most financial organisations. Among the ‘extremely important’ threats are: viruses (63pc of the sample), data theft (56pc) and online fraud (37pc). Last year, 41pc of the respondents experienced a virus attack while 15pc had data stolen. The conduct of employees is regarded as a further serious threat. Employee negligence and employee fraud were considered major threats by 48pc and 41pc of the sample respectively.
