As the economy progresses, more people are saving and investing their hard-earned money in banks. However, a lot has happened in the past few weeks that involved banks and their operations. It was alarming for the banks as well as the clients which caused major concerns and doubt with these institutions.
Another incident that happened recently is when a UnionBank employee was arrested for allegedly stealing P17 million from a UnionBank branch in Pasig City. The arrest was made after an unauthorized cash transfer from the bank's Ortigas Cash Center to its Caloocan Cash Center was discovered to allegedly cover-up the theft.
As the news came out in social media, there have been a lot of speculations and fears when it comes to banking. Many are now afraid of putting their savings in banks and were opted to keep them in their own hands. But this avoidance from dealing with banks is doing more harm than good.
With the economy depending on the flow of finance and consumption, choosing not to go with banks will affect the healthy cash and credit flow in the country. Banks today have a more complicated security system, although not perfect will have numerous back up plans and protocols to avoid system crashes and glitches.
Just look at the banks who had these problems with their system and caused massive panic to their clients. Everything is now back to normal and no one lost even a single centavo as systems are restored and security measures reinforced.
To take this incident as a sign that keeping money in banks is not safe is making a giant illogical leap. Banks have large amounts of money, of course they are targets. The fact that these incidents are as isolated as they are, is a testament to how effective the redundant security measures they have in place really are.
What is important to remember is that in all of the banking mishaps that have happened lately, at the end of the day, the worst thing that happened was a bit of inconvenience.
Nobody in any of these cases has come forward to say they have lost any money, let alone a significant amount of money. Banks are huge, complex and dynamic systems that manage huge volumes of cash in real time. The fact that incidents such as this are not everyday occurrences, is actually a testament to how robust and fault tolerant their electronic safeguards are.
The fact that this employee was caught stealing money, and the manner in which she was caught, actually reaffirms my trust in the banking system and the safeguards they have in place. When you think about it, 17 million pesos is a small amount for a bank especially if it is “electronic money”, as opposed to physical cash. The fact that such a small amount was flagged and narrowed down to a single perpetrator is in a word amazing! The money's electronic trail was far more fast, effective and accurate than any physical trail could ever be.
Banks will always be targets of thieves, but I would rather have a bank be a target than my home be a target. At least a bank has layers of redundant security, and expertise and then finally insurance. 17 million pesos sitting in a home safe or anywhere other than in a bank would be enough to make anyone lose sleep, worse than that, if it were to somehow be robbed, there would be no getting it back, and people are liable to get hurt or killed when it is taken.
I still have big faith in banks with my finances because they are still the best place to save and place our investments. Incidents like this could happen but it does pay to have trust in your bank, and the banks on the other hand have the responsibility to protect their clients. Remember that its takes two to tango to good financial management.
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