Customer Friendly Banks -- Are They Riskier?

I was interviewed by several Chicago news outlets regarding the recent horrific shooting at the Illinois-Service Federal Savings & Loan on Chicago’s South Side.  Our Griffin Bank Security Suite software had that branch at 7 times the national average for bank robbery. 

As I spoke with the reporters it was apparent that this branch, in a neighborhood that is recognized as being revitalized, has made extraordinary efforts to be a customer-friendly branch with an open feel.  I am not going to try to hide my socially liberal bias here – I think it is great when community banks serve neighborhoods that probably do not get the amount of financial services they warrant. 

The challenge that this incident demonstrates is how to protect customers and employees when a lot of potential bank robbers live in near-by neighborhoods, and in an urban environment where there are multiple high speed egresses from a robbery scene.  That was the case here, and those two factors figure heavily in this branch having such a high risk level in the Griffin model.   I think it is time that banks seriously consider installing teller cash dispenser (TCD’s).  Not only as a way to optimize their human resources and to speed the closing process – but to remove the cash drawer, and the subsequent risk it brings.  TCD’s are like high tech ATM’s that allow the teller to interface with customers and the cash is always in secure location. 

They are offered by many companies and with variable features sets by companies like as De La Rue, Diebold or Stanley’s Frisco Bay Division.

We have just begun analysis, but the results seem interesting – branches that have CDM’s are experiencing fewer robberies than banks with similar risk indicators.  I expect that the data will soon catch up to the common sense as we collect more relevant data and conduct more analysis.