FNB ditches safety deposit boxes after heists
FNB has decided to discontinue the ‘provision of safe custody storage’ following a spate of high-profile robberies in December 2016.
According to its website, safe custody was a service where articles were lodged in sealed envelopes, deed boxes or safe deposit lockers for safe‑keeping in the branch. The service was available to all FNB customers who had an active FNB transactional account.
“With immediate effect, FNB will not accept any new safe custody applications from existing or new customers,” the bank said in a statement.
“The decision follows the bank’s regular review of service offerings to align with its business strategy, as well as the assessment of the product’s sustainability.”
FNB has reportedly already begun notifying impacted individual and business customers to make arrangements to collect their safe custody valuables from the branches in which they are stored.
The bank was thrust into the spotlight following the high-profile safety deposit box robberies which left customers fuming due to a lack of communication from FNB.
Two days before Christmas in 2016, a FNB branch in Randburg was targeted and hit by criminals, who escaped with over 200 safety deposit boxes containing various valuables of both monetary and sentimental value.
The group was then again hit by a second bank heist in as many months, with the SAPS reporting that R1.7 million had been stolen from the bank’s branch in Parktown.
In its statement about the closure of the service, FNB noted that “the bank continues to remind customers that it is necessary to take out suitable insurance cover for all valuables held in safe custody, in accordance with the terms and conditions of the service.”
Read: R1.7 million reportedly stolen in second FNB bank heist
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