Banker's club puts focus on security

CEBU, Philippines - Amid the bleak forecasts concerning the economy, bankers in Cebu instead focus on strengthening the security features of their banks to ensure the investments of its clientele.

Newly inducted Cebu Bankers Club (CBC) president at the same time Allied Banking Corp. branch manager John Salas said the local scene very much mirrors whatever it is that the banking industry in the country is facing.

However; despite these economic issues, he said that their members continue to invest in the latest advancements in security features.

He said that recent incidents concerning armed robberies in the city has been quite disturbing for their sector because the approach has already turned violent.      Salas said that their club is actively collaborating with police authorities to tackle and provide solutions to these alarming incidents.

Every second Thursday of the month, Salas said officials from the Police Regional Office-7 (PRO7), key officials from the city and provincial police offices, representatives from the Cebu Bankers Association of Security Providers, together with the Federation of Cebu Rural Bankers, and the Association of Malls and Supermarket Operators in Cebu (AMSOC), would meet in a roundtable discussion to tackle inherent issues on security.

He said that other than banks, most businesses in Cebu ranked security as the highest on their priority list and this has surfaced in a recent survey that was accomplished by the Cebu Economic Advisory Group (CEAG).

Salas said that security is one of the most important features of the banking industry so they continue to emphasize its importance among their members, currently consisting 52 banks ranging from universal, commercial, savings and thrift banks all over Cebu.

“We are very heavy on security improvements so that we can constantly secure and serve our banking public. The robberies which have so far occurred have become alarming to us because there have seem to be an increased incident of fatalities,” said Salas.

He said though that recent cases on bank robberies involved rural banks who do not have alarm systems and security devices.

“Our member banks have done initiatives to invest in security devices and alarm systems so they have become hard targets for robberies but we always try to improve our security features and we hope that we will be able to also convince rural banks to do the same and be security conscious to reflect the whole banking industry,” said Salas.

He said that most if not all of their membership have already installed security cameras in their automated teller machines and some also invested in sophisticated security features like motion detector, smoke alarms and among others to protect their establishments. 

Salas said that CBC is open to expanding its membership base to accommodate more banks in its fold and to also be able to spread their advocacies on security.

“We want to reach out to more banks in Cebu because we still have not tapped all these banks. The Club has so far been effective in improving the banking industry in Cebu and we want more stakeholders to benefit from our programs and projects,” said Salas.

But other than continuously improving on security, CBC is also working on providing its membership with financial education seminars to enrich the skills of their people and keep them abreast at these times of global economic crisis.

“We are heavy on educating our ranks to go along with the security angles that we are currently focused at. We are very keen to involve ourselves with the authorities so that we can device ways to combat the industry’s security threats not only to banks and its vicinity but as well as to our clients when they leave our banks,” said Salas.

Recently, CBC conducted its 46th induction ceremonies of officers and directors at the Cebu City Marriott Hotel with the theme: “Managing Amidst Adversity: Taking Stock and Moving Forward.”