We have approx. 10 "Loan Production Offices". We keep no cash in these offices, they are strictly for originating and processing loans. No other types of transactions are conducted.
The opening procedures used for regular bank offices seem too strict because it is unlikely that these loan production offices will be robbed (for cash, anyway)
does anyone have offices similar to this, and what are your opening and closing procedures?
Thanks.

Are the locations alarmed? Is the alarm part of your bank's central station monitoring, or monitored by a vendor? Are there exterior and inside-door interior CCTV security surveillance, and are the cameras monitored centrally; if not, are images recorded centrally or at each production office location. The risks are primarily those that are similar to a routine office environment, and the basic concern is to have a receptionist-type greeting area -- to minimize free-flow walking into the work area of strange or uninvited individuals -- or, if more security is desired, a card- or token-access system to control access and provide logging audit-trails of all human traffic. Opening "procedures" would be no different than any office that opens a locked, alarmed location; however, either two people should be present at the opening, or a male should be the first-person opener in the morning.

Please remember this is a public forum with known fellons asking questions. Anonymous does not always mean a banker is asking for help. If you must divulge internal security practices please consider using the Private Mail or secure area features this site has available.

Sorry about that, Don. Point well-taken. I, like many BOL'rs, tend to think we're in a small world. (I recently read in the Boston Globe how long-term prisoners have access to computers in a prison library!)

Why would this be humor? At my institution we require male facilities and/or cleaning persons to also be in our operations center and headquarters building during the late-night and/or overnight maintenance functions. In the morning at all 27 of our branches (deposit-taking, so they have vaults and vault timers), it is bank policy that two people enter together. The headquarters and operations centers (four buildings, no deposits taken) are opened early by facilities staff, and then there is access control cards at all times. Get with the program ... this is post-9/11 2003. What planet have you been on? Women are attacked walking into malls, so why would it be sexist or non-feminist to require dual-staff opening procedures, or to require a male be present? The anon poster was correct.

Some would-be robbers may not know the difference between an LPO and a branch, or that LPO's have little if any cash on-site.

Opening procedures and other security procedures / devices are for the protection of your staff, so I would agree that you should have similar opening procedures in place for the LPO.

Folks:

Simply put -- if the LPO has the institution's name on the building that's visable to the public, the LPO's opening procedures should be the same as those for a cash-handling facility. Offenders often don't know what the building contains or what it may be used for.