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Securitas gives ATM services more attention

Sweden's multibillion dollar security company, Securitas AB, in December created a new position to oversee its ATM servicing business. Now the company is setting its sights on a more entrenched U.S. offering.

March 8, 2006

Service is the name of the game for Securitas AB - at least that's the way the company's new international president of ATM services for Cash Handling Services, Anne Lewis, sees it.

In the competitive space of ATM service and maintenance, the $8.2 billion Stockholm, Sweden-based company is forging ahead. Lewis' position is a new one, created in December as a way to give Securitas a sharpened focus.

Anne Lewis is president of ATM services for Securitas' Cash Handling Services division.

Lewis, a 20-year ATM industry veteran, is expected to help the company expand its reach and its service offering, especially in the United States, from where 20 percent of Securitas' annual ATM services revenue comes.

"In recent years, we've seen an increasing demand for ATM solutions that provide a full spectrum of services: technical support, cash forecasting and timely cash replenishment," said Clas Thelin, Securitas' president of the Cash Handling Services division. "While we offer all these services in various markets, we really needed a leader with Anne's expertise to expand our comprehensive ATM service offering over our entire network."

Lewis said Securitas' decision to bring her aboard is a reflection of its interest in "specialization."

"It signals the fact that SCHS (Securitas Cash Handling Services) understands ATMs are of strategic importance to the company, and they intend to use a variety of new strategies in order to grow both our service offering and our share of the market."

Last month, Securitas AB announced plans to divide its business into four independent companies - Loomis Cash Handling Services, Securitas Direct, Securitas Systems and the new Securitas, which will remain a focused security company. The divisions should finalize in September. (Read entire release about company division here.)

A differentiator

Securitas Cash Handling Services will assume the name Loomis Cash Handling Services. That new entity includes Securitas' North American cash-handling division, Loomis Fargo & Co. Securitas acquired the Houston-based Loomis Fargo company in May 2001.

Lewis endorsed bringing all cash handling under one umbrella.

"My whole idea is that we focus even more strongly than we have in the past on the ATM," she said.

Securitas is a dominant player in the United Kingdom, where it services 12 percent of the ATM market. Securitas also has a strong footing in Scandinavia, and it hopes to make similar market advances in the States.

Financially U.K. accounts make up only 14 percent of annual ATM services revenue; and services revenue from other countries accounts for only 10 percent, leaving room for growth, Lewis said.

Anne Lewis President of ATM services for Securitas AB's Cash Handling Services division

Education:Bachelor's degree from Open University, Milton Keynes, England; MBA from Manchester Business School, Manchester, England

Experience:

Before 1994: Held international positions with NCR and Olivetti, an Italian IT firm.
1994 to Present: An ATM services project manager and operations development manager for Securitas.
2002: Named managing director of Securitas Micro-route (SMR), a private ATM maintenance company acquired by Securitas in 2000.

"There is plenty of opportunity for growth in the markets we're in," Lewis said. "In some markets we partner, and in some markets it's too competitive. We are working on partnerships in the U.S."

Lewis sees opportunity for organic and acquisition growth in all markets.

"We need to look better at what we do and see what we can do to improve it," she said. "We need to work with the financial institutions and look at their entire costs of doing business, and we can help them reduce costs by providing an end-to-end service. We've seen that as a successful solution in Western Europe."

How Securitas expects to make its offering stand out remains to be seen. And it won't be easy. Analysts expect the new entity created after the Efmark-Bantek merger to be a powerhouse in the U.S. ATM servicing space. (Read also, Bantek West, Efmark announce merger.)

But Lewis said Securitas has a niche that it plans to exploit.

"If you look at all the services, including first- and second-line maintenance, the profitability is coming down," Lewis said. "So rather than trying to do things cheaper, we do need to do things smarter, and I think Securitas has a lot of opportunity there."