Financial Security Symposium 2007

On the 6–7 November 2007 ADT was the proud sponsor of the Financial Security Symposium 2007 held in London, a unique European event focusing on the theme of strategic and corporate responsibility. More than 40 security management leaders from across Europe attended the event, which was an opportunity for retail and investment banks and other financial service providers to discuss the security challenges facing their sector, share ideas and help them stay ahead of evolving risks.

In addition to the 40 plus senior executives from leading European banks and financial institutions, a number of industry experts presented at the event, including:

• Sir Chris Fox QPM, a former President of the Association of Chief Police Officers in the UK
• Matt Tapp, a crisis communications expert
• Martin Gill, a Professor of Criminology at the University of Leicester in the UK
• Hans-Jacob Anonsen, the Chairman of the Physical Security Working Group at the European Banking Federation
• Richard Cook, the Director of Financial Crime at the British Bankers Association

In today’s world, ensuring the security of financial institutions is a major challenge. ADT sponsored the Financial Security Symposium because it provided a valuable platform for everyone involved in the finance and banking sector to share their knowledge and experience to help meet evolving security needs. A wide range of subjects relating to financial and banking security were discussed by experts and delegates at the event, including:

• Emerging criminal trends
• Financial sector crimes and protective measures
• The European Banking Federation strategy
• The value of a multi-agency approach to crime prevention
• Extortion
• Crisis communication
• Identity theft
• The “inside threat”
• Open plan banking
• Critical incident management

The full Symposium agenda is available. 

Conclusions from the Symposium:

Security threats have evolved quickly as the services that financial institutions offer have changed. The conventional physical threats of armed robbery, kidnap and cash in transit raids remain, but there is now an increased focus on the growth of non-physical threats such as identity theft and fraud.

The internet has made the world a smaller place. You can be in Russia or Nigeria and commit crime thousands of miles away. The threat is sophisticated and does not discriminate between organisations or individuals.

Delegates concluded that stronger partnerships between companies, regulators and law enforcement agencies are required in response to the growing sophistication and international scale of crime. Developing networks to share information quickly and working more closely together will help financial institutions protect themselves more effectively.