FINANCIAL SERVICES

The financial services industry has experienced tremendous upheaval in recent month, from the dramatic declines in home values to the collapse of some of the world’s largest banks and insurance companies. While these changes represent some of the most significant challenges for the industry in recent times, financial institutions must also continue to address very traditional threats that still have a significant impact.

With the theft of bank bags, ATMs and personal financial data, as well as bank robberies, increasing each year, financial institutions are constantly seeking new tools to help combat these threats.

Annually, there are more than 10,000 bank robberies in the United States, which translates into roughly 27 per day. On average, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a bank robber leaves the robbery with $4,000.

In addition, according to the FBI’s Bank Crime Statistics, thousands of bank bags are stolen each year and less than half of the stolen funds are ever recovered. Because of the portable nature of ATMs and their presence in unsecured locations, these machines have also become a popular target for thieves.

Of equal concern to the theft of currency, is the increase in theft of personal financial data. While much attention has been focused on ensuring that internet and data security measures are in place to thwart electronic theft by hackers, it is of equal importance to protect backup tapes and other data storage media that may contain sensitive data.

The most effective way to help avoid the short- and long-term impact of any of these types of theft is to ensure that assets that are taken have the highest potential for recovery. To thwart criminals and help recover stolen property, companies are turning to advanced tracking solutions.

Whether you are a traditional bank, armored vehicle company, credit union or other type of financial institution, location-enabled applications that track vehicles, bank bags and any other high-value asset are key.

Omnilink offers location-enabled tracking solutions for financial institutions to help minimize the risk of money being stolen and to recover stolen assets quickly. Omnilink’s solutions are all built on the company’s award-winning, location-based services (LBS) platform, FocalPoint™, and offer the most accurate aggregation of data from devices in the field.

The flexibility of its LBS platform enables Omnilink to provide solutions that can easily integrate with and provision almost any tracking device, allowing financial institutions to begin tracking assets almost immediately. FocalPoint™ also enables Omnilink to build custom LBS solutions capable of providing companies in the financial industry with functionality tailored to their unique operating requirements.

Whether the specific solution involves an existing Asset Tracking application or a specialized tool built on the FocalPoint™ platform, users benefit from all of the platform’s features, including real-time and historical tracking; inclusion and exclusion zones; enter and exit zones; complex scheduling; detailed reporting, and more.