To understand the future of Fintech (financial technologies) you have to look back at where we started. Artificial intelligence (AI) is no stranger to the banking industry. Early forms of AI technology, such as automated check processing, debuted in the 1950s, and the first automated teller machines (ATMs) arrived on …
For years Total Security Solutions CEO Jim Richards has been a strong advocate for the deterrence effect of bullet resistant bandit barriers. “This isn’t just a matter of opinion,” Jim explains. “We’ve been doing this for decades. We’ve watched the numbers: When more banks have bullet resistant barriers, fewer banks get robbed, …
Earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires—recent headlines are a grim reminder of the importance of business continuity planning for speedy disaster recovery. This is especially the case for banks, credit unions, and local non-bank financial service providers (like check cashers). When it comes to natural disaster recovery, banks have extra pressure to move quickly. In the immediate …
Because most banks have similar needs—a secured teller line with bullet resistant windows, secured ballistic doors, and bulletproof fiberglass to reinforce counters—many security companies try and push a one-size-fits-all solution. With decades of experience designing, engineering, fabricating, and installing custom bandit barriers in banks and credit unions, Total Security Solutions …
When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton famously quipped “Because that’s where the money is.” Although that quote may be fanciful (in his second memoir—he wrote two—Sutton denied ever actually saying those words), the sentiment remains true. As Total Security Solutions CEO Jim Richards notes, “The bank is the …
While money service businesses and non-bank financial services both evolved along the same lines as banks (the former handling money transfers while the latter accepts the risk of cashing checks and extending loans), pawn shops are a very different animal, with their own history.
“The modern non-bank financial service business doesn’t look like your old-style mom-and-pop check casher. It’s upscale, a nicer environment for customer and worker, a better place to have as part of your community–and needs to look the part.”
In a given year, Texas alone sees roughly as many bank branches, check cashers, and short-term loan businesses robbed as Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee combined. Year after year, Texas is second only to California in annual bank robberies.
Financial service businesses are often relieved to discover that a bandit barrier need not be as large an investment as they suspected. In part, many banks initially overestimate what their barrier will cost because they spec out “too much barrier” for their needs. As we’ve mentioned in the past, it is almost certainly the case that you don’t need to worry about stopping an AK-47. For most banking customers, a Level 1 or 2 system (which stops many bullets fired from a wide range of common handguns) will be more than sufficient.