That's not to say that the company needs an image adjustment, said Cal Murri, who took the helm of Loomis' U.S. operations in December. It's merely an effort the company is putting forward to expand its products and services in the marketplace.
 |
| Cal Murri is Loomis' president and chief operating officer for U.S. operations. |
"We have over 400 operating locations, 1.6 billion in annual revenue, over 20,000 employees, and over 6,000 vehicles in our fleet," Murri said, emphasizing the fact that while the company continued to operate under the Loomis, Fargo & Co. name in the United States and the Securitas name in Western Europe, most financial institutions and retailers viewed the two operations as separate. Under the Loomis name, Loomis expects to drive home the point that it is a single cash-handling-services provider that operates on two continents.
"In the U.S. and Europe, it is our belief that our network is larger than anyone else's, and that has been another focus and scope of our name change," he said. "I think most of the industry perceives us just as an armored car company, but we really do much more than that."
The company's e-business solutions comprise a range of 21st-century technical offerings, including cash recycling, cash processing and electronic reporting, and Loomis is working to promote those offerings. Safepoint, an intelligent safe for retailers, allows retailers to control cash flow in their stores, is one such product. Another, Virtual Vault, allows FIs to automate cash processing and reporting. The Virtual Vault is literally a virtual vault – one that allows a primary FI to collect, process and reconcile deposits from retailers that might be scattered geographically through Loomis. It includes Internet-based change orders and account management as well as deposit tracking by location.
"Now we can show our company more of a cash-logistics company," Murri said. "All of that ties in with the name change."
A changing mindset
Loomis' changing identity reflects a changing market, Murri said. As more FIs and retailers outsource cash management to service companies, service providers will enhance and expand their service offerings to meet changing needs in the marketplace.
"Outsourcing just makes a lot of sense. It has a significant amount of opportunity to reduce touchpoints," he said. "When we look at our Virtual Vault product, which is outsourcing, then we see it's basically an easy way for banks to expand their footprints."
A fluid regulatory environment also is playing a role in the outsourcing trend. The onset of Check 21 technology, the Federal Reserve's changing recirculation policies and rising interest rates are encouraging more FIs to outsource, Murri said.
"As interest rates have gotten higher, along with these regulatory points, everyone has been pushed to outsourcing," he said. "Outsourcing to a cash provider helps to limit the amount of cash in circulation and allows companies like ours to become more integrated into their solutions."
The outsourcing shift that's now gaining speed in the United States has been going in Europe for a number of years, Murri said. He expects Loomis to use its European experience to help it leverage outsourcing growth in North America.
"Cash-processing operations are outsourced to a far greater degree in Europe, definitely more so than what has been done in the U.S.," he said. "But outsourcing is where we see it going in U.S., and we've been able to learn and share the best practices from our experience in Europe (under the Securitas name). We've learned that transporting and processing cash within the same network provides some meaningful efficiencies."
For more information about cash-management, download "Controlling the Cash: A Guide to Effective and Controlled ATM Cash Management."
