Counting on Technology

IP video systems enhance business performance for financial institutions

• By Steve Langford
• May 03, 2007

CHECK fraud, ATM card skimming and similar crimes cost financial institutions billions of dollars each year. Banks, credit unions and other institutions are developing more aggressive loss prevention programs and are taking advantage of new and existing security technologies.

Video-based applications are playing a critical role. Having evolved from simple, standalone recording devices, today’s top digital systems are helping financial institutions identify criminal activity and criminals while providing high-quality video evidence authorities need to successfully prosecute offenders.

These IP video systems deliver visual intelligence to financial institutions. The technology makes searching through massive amounts of archived video a quick and simple process, tying video evidence to specific ATM and teller transaction data to strengthen case evidence. The systems also provide powerful video analytic applications, such as people counting and loitering detection, to help organizations detect, classify and track activity and improve security, operations, customer service and even marketing strategies.

Financial institutions recognize the most effective IP video systems enhance customer and staff safety, save time and resources, and deliver a strong ROI. Finding the right system can be a challenge. The list of criteria is long, and there are many choices.

Room to Grow
Selected solution should support immediate and long-term objectives and be able to grow with the organization. There are numerous features most financial institutions, regardless of size, budget or product offerings, should look for in an IP video system.

Reduce losses from skimming, fraud. The ability to integrate ATM and teller transaction data with synchronized video, for example, is an invaluable tool for use in fraud investigations and resolving customer disputes. Ideally, the system can support this integration locally at each branch or ATM, or connect with one or several transaction servers at a central location.

Emerging video analytics offer new capabilities to help combat check and ATM fraud while enhancing overall security. The applications can detect suspicious activity, such as an ATM customer who is not engaged in a transaction, and alert staff in real time. Video analytics also can be used in cash-counting rooms, vaults or other high-security areas to monitor and count people, detect objects or doorway obstructions.

Equally important for loss prevention departments is the system’s client software, which provides tools investigators need to resolve cases efficiently. Client software must be user-friendly and built for case management. Users should be able find the video they need quickly, combine it with case notes or comments, and then export the video/audio/data evidence easily to a memory stick, CD or other device. A playback tool that enables authorized third parties, such as law enforcement, to review evidence without first installing software on separate PCs also is beneficial.

Store quality video. While all IP video systems store and record to internal and external hard drives, more advanced systems allow customers to retain necessary video at a higher quality over longer time periods. The best systems provide a range of features for striking almost any desired balance between network and storage capacity requirements, image quality and storage duration. In fact, the U.S.-based Scientific Working Group on Imaging Technology (SWGIT) recommends a 10-day minimum retention period for high-quality video from every camera—an objective also being encouraged by the FBI.

Being able to obtain high-quality video evidence from any camera immediately after a suspicious incident has become a recommended best practice.

Approval of IT/IS department. In addition to system security, network impact is a key consideration for a financial institution’s IT group. In order for a new IP video system to win over IT, it must prove it will not generate large file sizes or exceed bandwidth limitations. Financial institutions guard networks particularly well and for good reason—data on a banking network is almost always mission-critical and can’t wait for a large video file to finish moving down a pipe that’s usually in high demand.

Leading IP video systems deliver strong A/V compression and networking capabilities and use industry-recognized video compression techniques such as MPEG-4. The systems also offer features such as flexible bandwidth usage controls, intelligent storage management and optimized file sizes for third-party rendering.

Minimize resources. Overly complex management software or poor health monitoring capabilities can mean lost video and increased support costs for financial institutions.

Management software must be easy to learn and use. It should enable administrators to configure recorders efficiently and organize both in groups that make sense for an institution. User-friendly IP video systems make it possible for configurations to be copied and applied to new or replacement recorders where applicable, and allow upgrades to be programmed and sent automatically after business hours or when it’s most convenient.

The best IP video systems also provide reliable health monitoring capabilities that can be set to meet an institution’s accepted thresholds. Automated alerts enable staff to identify, escalate and resolve issues according to predetermined processes. If a service technician is needed, staff should be able to provide them with an overview of the issue to reduce troubleshooting in the field.

A managed video network service from March Networks goes a step further by offering outsourced health monitoring and maintenance services to financial institutions. The offering optimizes system perform, reduces service calls and helps ensure ongoing availability of high-quality video evidence.

Grow with an organization. Financial institutions are investing in IP video systems today with an eye on tomorrow’s requirements. The selected system must be able to grow with the organization and support future technology.

Regardless of when the institution will migrate to an all-IP video network, having the option is critical. Hybrid systems that support analog and IP cameras, as well as emerging loss prevention and business optimization applications, are essential. Software solutions that run on open, industry standard servers and support a choice of cameras, storage architectures and application requirements also are gaining rapid market interest.

Due diligence demands a look at vendors, as well. Are the companies planning to bring new visual and business intelligence applications to market? Not every video analytics application or software package is right for every bank, but it’s important to know that the system you select has a vendor behind it ready to present new capabilities to the financial sector.

A Case in Point: Republic Bank
It’s clear that sorting through dozens of vendor products in search of the best video surveillance solution is a serious process. A wrong decision can result in expensive maintenance costs, downtime and less-than-optimum performance.

Wayne Gomes, senior manager of operational risk with Republic Bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the Caribbean, knew there was a lot at stake in the selection of an enterprise-wide video security solution. He also knew that getting it right required a disciplined procurement process and due diligence.

Republic Bank boasts group assets of $31.6 billion, has 47 branches in Trinidad and Tobago and owns affiliate financial institutions in Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia, Cayman Islands, Guyana and Dominican Republic.

Gomes joined the operational risk department of the institution in 2004 with a background in banking and IT.

“I wasn’t familiar with CCTV systems, so I did a lot of research. I read a lot and tried to get a feel for the systems that were out there,” he said. “I also did a survey to determine what our requirements were and looked at some of the risk issues we had at our branches and particularly at our ATM systems, where we had a lot of problems with fraud.”

Gomes developed a list of specifications based on his research and issued a tender to seven suppliers, two of which recommended March Networks solutions.

Quality was a key requirement because of Trinidad & Tobago’s high crime rate and the importance the bank placed on using video surveillance to combat it.

“My policy was to look for the best,” Gomes said. “If it was affordable, I would go with it. If not, I would go for the next best because cost is a factor too.”

Another important requirement was storage. Republic Bank had a legal requirement to store video for six months, but wanted a solution that could accommodate between nine and 12 months. An ability to offer an external RAID option was decisive.

“Taking everything into consideration, including capabilities and cost, we came to the conclusion that March Networks and its local representative, Video Surveillance Ltd., offered the best solution,” Gomes said.

One of the key aspects of the solution is its ability to use the bank’s corporate backbone without affecting network speed, operation or performance.

Due Diligence
To help with the bank’s due diligence, the local solution provider flew Gomes to Cincinnati to meet with his counterparts at Fifth Third Bank, a March Networks customer with 19 affiliates and more than 1,100 branches in the Midwest and Florida.

“They were very helpful,” Gomes said. “They took us into a conference room and gave us an online tour of the branch network, pulling down video from a branch in Florida and showing us video clips of robberies and other incidents. One thing that really impressed me was the vendor’s openness to system improvements that were recommended by Fifth Third. That’s something you don’t find very often.”

Video Surveillance began installing 4000 series DVRs at Republic Bank’s 47 branches and 90 standalone ATMs in Trinidad and Tobago in May 2006.

It didn’t take long for Gomes and his staff to begin providing the police with quality images of fraudsters and thieves. In one scam, a thief inserts something into the ATM’s card slot to trap a customer’s card, capture its PIN while pretending to offer help and then returns to extract the card after the customer leaves.

“All it takes is a bit of X-ray film, some glue and a screwdriver,” Gomes said.

Purse snatchings and holdups outside banks and ATMs also are a problem, but cameras covering car parks and sidewalks have proven effective in capturing video of perpetrators.

In one incident, a suspect broke into a bank on a weekend by kicking in a window. He set off the alarm and ran off empty-handed before police arrived on the scene. Not only did the video surveillance system capture an image of the person, but by reviewing the video, bank officials were able to tell police exactly where they could find fingerprints.

To speed up video searches, Republic Bank will soon take advantage of financial transaction investigation software, a module of the March Networks R5 Visual Intelligence Software Suite, which allows investigators to search archived video using bank machine transaction data and view transaction details and associated video in the same user interface.

“In the short time the system has been operational, we’ve been able to identify a lot of these fraudsters, and the police have been successful in laying charges against them,” Gomes said.