Guard at every ATM is unviable: Banks

KOLKATA: Banks in the city were left baffled on Tuesday after a Kolkata Police advisory and a state minister’s prod, urging them to engage security guards at ATMs. The police advisory urges people to use ATMs that are guarded. The minister went a step further threatening penalty against outsourced unguarded ATM kiosks.


Bank officials, however, indicated they were exploring all measures, including legal, if the they were forced to deploy guards in approximately all the 11,000 ATMs in city. In Kolkata, private banks have slashed the security guard strength at their ATMs by 40%-50%.

“The RBI is pushing for its March 2019 deadline for all ATMs to be security compliant. This involves systems upgrade, installation of anti-skimming devices and whitelisted solutions (installation of only permitted software). The banks are also implementing e-surveillance measures,” a senior bank official said. This, he argued, involves huge costs. The minister’s suggestion, he said, if implemented would lead to an additional expenditure of Rs 24,000 per ATM. “Together, it makes an ATM financial unviable,” he claims.

Police said a guard at ATMs is a deterrence for fraudsters. “Several ATMs have non-functional CCTV cameras. There is no real-time surveillance. Most ATMs don’t have alarms. We have been stressing on these issues but to no

avail

,” an officer said.

Police also said banks claim to have 24x7 centralized teams that keeps tabs on ATMs. But these teams keeps tabs only on the cash inflow and outflow in the ATMs.

“They have no role in the security-related monitoring and have outsourced ATM management and security to private agencies,” a senior officer said. “This, and the fact that the amount handed out to multiple service providers is insured, shouldn’t be a reason for banks to shirk their responsibilities,” the officer said.

Banks said RBI mandates allow them to engage service providers for cash handling, including ATM operations. “It is not an RBI mandate to engage security guards,” a bank officer said. “In 2016, the Gauhati High Court had issued several directives to banks, that included placing security guards roundthe-clock at all ATMs. This direction was later stayed by the Supreme Court.

Another official said, “Globally the trend is to adopt e-surveillance measures and reduce physical security at ATMs. These are more reliable and cost-effective. Guards can be an option for off-site ATMs, but for the ones that are attached to a bank branch with 24X7 security guards, this will be unviable.”

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