No security for ATMs

Rajahmundry: Bankers seem to be having no concern to the safety of their customers, especially when they visit the ATM kiosks to carry out financial transactions, as a large number of such facilities go unguarded in Godavari districts even after several days of a woman bank manager was brutally attacked at such a facility in Bangalore in November last.

A large number of customers of various nationalised and private banks prefer to visit the ATM kiosks located at their workplaces or near their residences to withdraw cash at their convenient time as they function round-the-clock. As the banks vie with one another to set up ATM kiosks at vantage points, mainly in urban areas to attract their customers, some of them remain unguarded.

The customers are vulnerable at these kiosks if they fail to be vigilant as their Personal Identification Numbers of their credit or debit cards will be lifted, their cards will be hacked, they will be distracted or attacked to knock away huge amount of money from them and even the ATM itself will be looted by the criminals.

Nearly 841 ATM kiosks are existing in both the districts and all of them function round-the-clock, except for a brief interval when they are shut to replenish cash. One can see aged, feeble, unarmed and untrained persons maning these kiosks and except one of the nationalised banks, the SBI, a majority of the other nationalised  banks use private security personnel. They are no match for any potential intruder or attacker.

Bankers confess that it involves huge amount of money to run these kiosks by engaging armed security personnel round-the-clock. Closed circuit cameras installed in the kiosks help record the footage of any intruder and in case such intruders are smart enough, they will cover the cameras with a cloth or unplug or even destroy them before perpetrating the crime to avoid detection.

The bankers have submitted a representation to the Indian Bankers Association and also to the RBI seeking their intervention to ensure safety of the customers at the ATM kiosks and the issue is learnt to be pending with them.

Recently, the RBI issued directions making it mandatory to set up onsite ATM kiosks, which means that the kiosks will be set up at the branches of the banks and the bank security personnel will be able to man them. Now, the problem lies with offsite ATM kiosks where they will be set up away from branches of the banks.

Earlier, a proposal to set up White Label ATM kiosks came up for deliberation as the banks will set up common kiosks and share the burden of their maintenance equally. However, this proposal is pending following RBI’s insistence on on-site kiosks.

East Godavari lead bank manager S. Jagannadha Swamy said, “We are expecting norms on public safety at the kiosks from the RBI as the issue is complex and involves huge amount of money.”