News

African banks struggle with ATM security

May 13, 2004

NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenyan bankers have proposed the introduction of cash staining devices to be fitted in containers used for cash in transit. At the touch of a button, the devices explode, dyeing the contents with color and rendering them useless to thieves.

The detonating devices, which have reportedly reduced the incidence of such thefts in South Africa, won favor with bankers at a recent meeting of the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA), the Central Bank and the police, according to a report in the East African.

The meeting was called to discuss bank robberies and theft of cash in transit. As Kenyan banks have recently tightened security within and around branches, cash in transit is seen as a weak link in the security chain.

Philip ole Perrio, the head of KBA's fraud and security committee, told the East African that the cash staining proposal is being studied as a deterrent to robbery of cash in transit.

Cash in transit has recently been targeted by robbers in other African countries, including Tanzania. The National Bank of Commerce (NBC) and Citibank (T) Ltd lost nearly Tsh6 billion (U.S. $6 million) in both local and foreign currency in three recent raids involving cash in transit.

In one incident, Citibank lost $2 million it was transporting from Dar es Salaam International Airport to the bank's downtown branch when the guard who was driving the van allegedly pulled a pistol and threatened to kill his fellow guards before transferring the cash to a waiting getaway car.

Police arrested the guard in the southern town of Mbeya and brought him back to Dar es Salaam where, along with suspected accomplices, he was charged with robbery. The case is still pending in court.

However, Kenyan police officers said that the staining devices, though recommended as a theft deterrent, cannot be used without first amending the Banking Act, which outlaws the mutilation of currency.

The cost involved in implementing the proposal is also becoming an issue, with security experts arguing that it may be passed on to consumers, according to the East African.

At the meeting, the Kenyan industry representatives also suggested increased patrols by uniformed police in areas surrounding banks. Since the beginning of 2004, robbers have struck a Standard Chartered bank branch and Blueseas Forex Bureau, both in Nairobi, and a branch of the Bank of Baroda in Mombasa.

In the Standard Chartered Bank incident, the amount taken was not immediately available, but in the case of the forex bureau, the thieves made off with Ksh20.8 million (U.S. $266,666). The Bank of Baroda in Mombasa lost Ksh15 million (U.S. $192, 310).

"We do, however, appreciate the problems facing the Kenya police with regard to a shortage of manpower and facilities such as patrol cars, but the security issue is of concern to us," Perrio said.

The robberies at the forex bureaux, and there have been several in the past few years, have placed the Central Bank in the spotlight over its failure to regulate the sector by placing a ceiling on how much cash they can hold at any time.

"We feel that there ought to be regulation on the basic maximum a forex bureau should hold, which they can maintain through making as many deposits as the business many require. It was certainly out of order for a forex bureau to keep Ksh20 million ($246,410 U.S., the amount stolen) in a place that does not have sufficient security," Perrio said.

Following a spate of robberies in the 1990s, Kenyan banks restricted the amounts of money bank tellers can retain. They also placed ceilings on daily withdrawal limits at ATMs, after a number of attacks in which victims were led to machines and forced to empty their accounts.

Banks have recently beefed up the presence of security guards at ATMs, but whether they should be armed has provoked debate. According to the East African, it is widely acknowledged that with their batons and whistles, they are not much deterrent to thieves armed with guns.

Perrio said that arming guards would be disastrous. "When you have a guard earning Ksh5,000 with a firearm, the temptation to use his gun against his client would be great."