bank robberies

melindamusil · 11-30-2012, 08:01 AM

What are the effects of a bank robbery on the bank?

I've found several articles talking about the effect of bank robbery on the bank robber (it's generally not a good career path to choose) but none focused on the bank.

I'm sure it's not good to have your bank robbed, but I also know that banks have insurance to guard against robberies. I'm imagining a small- to medium-sized bank, large enough to have multiple branches covering a region (maybe a half dozen states). Not one of the behemoths like BoA or Citigroup.

jclarkdawe · 11-30-2012, 08:15 AM

Financially, not much. Average bank robbery is something like $5,000 or so. Not really a big chunk of money overall. They either take the loss or get reimbursed by the insurance company. I believe that any money lost because of dye markers is replaced by the Federal Reserve Bank.

It's just part of the cost of doing business.

Bad loans vastly exceed the amount of money lost in bank robberies.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

Drachen Jager · 11-30-2012, 09:15 AM

Possibly PTSD or other trauma for employees.

What exactly are you looking for?

blacbird · 11-30-2012, 10:51 AM

Given the vast corporate interconnectedness + governmental insurance on deposits, the answer is virtually nothing, in financial terms. But employees and unlucky customers most certainly do get terrorized, and occasionally killed, in robberies. That's where the problem really lies.

caw

Becky Black · 11-30-2012, 01:55 PM

I work for a bank at their head office, so I know a couple of things. The financial impact is minor for the bank. Most bank robberies are fast in and out and get only the cash that's behind the counter. They don't stick around long enough to get into the vault, like the better planned bank robberies you see on TV. So it's not a lot of money.

The biggest impact is on the staff. I know a couple of colleagues who used to be branch staff, but after being faced with people pointing shotguns at them, they couldn't do that work any more and took head office jobs instead. Some end up off work with PTSD. In the end that probably costs the bank more money than what's actually stolen on the day.

Some branches might get robbed frequently because of the neighbourhood they are in, or the location somehow makes it easy to get in and get away quick (like it's on a street not in a paved shopping area so easy to escape from in a car.) In that case the branch might eventually be closed because it's no longer worth the trouble and the danger to the staff. So then the local community is the one feeling the effects and some account holders might move to another bank that does still have a branch nearby - especially local businesses who need to pay in their cash takings every day.

melindamusil · 11-30-2012, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drachen Jager

What exactly are you looking for?

If I knew what I was looking for, I wouldn't be haunting this forum!

Seriously though... I'm thinking, some kind of crime that would cause noticeable financial harm to the bank, but not enough to completely destroy it. Since a bank robbery probably isn't going to do it, maybe I'll go for arson instead...

Drachen Jager · 11-30-2012, 09:57 PM

Arson won't do it either. Banks are insured to hell and back.

You know what does hurt a bank? There was an instance in Europe a few years back, where one of the bank's traders used money he shouldn't really have had access to to make stock-market plays that he thought were solid, but turned out to be a bad deal. The bank lost billions. I think they had to agree to a buyout from another bank to avoid total financial collapse.

Another thing that can hurt a bank is a 'run'. Basically if every customer (or even 10%) of a bank's customers ask for their money back all at once, it can be enough to sink a bank. They don't have the cash on hand to cover that sort of thing, and they'd be forced to sell assets at a loss to cover everything. This caused many bank collapses back the mid-early 20th century, but I think there are better safeguards against that sort of thing happening now. I think the S&L crisis in the '80s was a version of this too, but I may be wrong.

onesecondglance · 11-30-2012, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by melindamusil

If I knew what I was looking for, I wouldn't be haunting this forum!

Seriously though... I'm thinking, some kind of crime that would cause noticeable financial harm to the bank, but not enough to completely destroy it. Since a bank robbery probably isn't going to do it, maybe I'll go for arson instead...

As blacbird noted, the conglomerate nature of most banks means small losses wouldn't really hurt them. In banking, the cost of a building is small!

If you want to really hurt a major bank, you need to get into complex electronic fraud. A bank lives or dies on its ability to judge how much money it has at any time - how much is coming in vs how much is going out (assets vs liabilities). If you compromise that, they're screwed.

If it's a smaller bank, local in scale, maybe spread rumours that they're running out of cash. If you cause a big enough run on the bank, it'll become true.

Drachen Jager · 11-30-2012, 10:05 PM

Ahh here's the European story, Jérôme Kerviel, a rogue trader, lost 4.5 billion Euros of Société Générale's money.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A9r%C3%B4me_Kerviel

For more ideas, look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_fraud

waylander · 12-01-2012, 12:03 AM

Also have a look at Barings Bank, the rogue trader's name was Nick Leeson. He lost them over £800 million.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/16606536/C...nd-Nick-Leeson

jclarkdawe · 12-01-2012, 12:56 AM

More likely then a rouge employee is bad business sense. You acquire a whole lot of iffy mortgages and other loans that do okay in a normal business environment. But when you hit a recession, and people can't pay, all of a sudden the bottom falls out of your loan portfolio. See Washington Mutual - Wikipedia or Savings and loan crisis - Wikipedia.

A rouge employee is likely covered by the bonding company, and there are some limitations normally as to how much credit of the company they can pledge.

Best of luck,

Jim Clark-Dawe

melindamusil · 12-01-2012, 01:41 AM

*sigh*
Oh banks, why must you be so difficult? Good thing this isn't a terribly critical plot point!!

WeaselFire · 12-01-2012, 05:00 AM

Bans in the FDIC, most US banks, are insured by the US Government. Robberies result in virtually no financial loss. Some investment firms might be a better option, though a robbery will also not have any real effect. Investment fraud is a much better probability.

Jeff

11-30-2012, 08:01 AM	#1
melindamusil practical experience, FTW Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 245	bank robberies What are the effects of a bank robbery on the bank? I've found several articles talking about the effect of bank robbery on the bank robber (it's generally not a good career path to choose) but none focused on the bank. I'm sure it's not good to have your bank robbed, but I also know that banks have insurance to guard against robberies. I'm imagining a small- to medium-sized bank, large enough to have multiple branches covering a region (maybe a half dozen states). Not one of the behemoths like BoA or Citigroup.

11-30-2012, 08:15 AM	#2
jclarkdawe Feeling lucky, Query? Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 8,684	Financially, not much. Average bank robbery is something like $5,000 or so. Not really a big chunk of money overall. They either take the loss or get reimbursed by the insurance company. I believe that any money lost because of dye markers is replaced by the Federal Reserve Bank. It's just part of the cost of doing business. Bad loans vastly exceed the amount of money lost in bank robberies. Best of luck, Jim Clark-Dawe __________________ EQUINE LIABILITY: WHAT EVERY HORSEOWNER NEEDS TO KNOW Published 2002 sold through ~~GEORGE'S STORY~~ MORTON'S FORK Let's see how many agents I can catch with the query ~~THE NEXT STEP~~ ~~ASHES TO ASHES~~ INTO THE VALLEY (~~48,000~~79,000 words) Need to up my game. THE PICTURE Might be my next project.

11-30-2012, 09:15 AM	#3
Drachen Jager Professor of applied misanthropy Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Vancouver Posts: 10,372	Possibly PTSD or other trauma for employees. What exactly are you looking for? __________________ When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they're almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they're almost always wrong.—Gaiman The story must strike a nerve—in me. My heart should start pounding when I hear the first line in my head. I start trembling at the risk.—Sontag Creativity is the residue of wasted time.—Einstein

11-30-2012, 10:51 AM	#4
blacbird That hairy-handed gent Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Who ran amok in Kent Posts: 26,229	Given the vast corporate interconnectedness + governmental insurance on deposits, the answer is virtually nothing, in financial terms. But employees and unlucky customers most certainly do get terrorized, and occasionally killed, in robberies. That's where the problem really lies. caw __________________ Without a reader, the story doesn't exist -- James D. MacDonald

11-30-2012, 01:55 PM	#5
Becky Black Making up for lost time Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: UK Posts: 1,306	I work for a bank at their head office, so I know a couple of things. The financial impact is minor for the bank. Most bank robberies are fast in and out and get only the cash that's behind the counter. They don't stick around long enough to get into the vault, like the better planned bank robberies you see on TV. So it's not a lot of money. The biggest impact is on the staff. I know a couple of colleagues who used to be branch staff, but after being faced with people pointing shotguns at them, they couldn't do that work any more and took head office jobs instead. Some end up off work with PTSD. In the end that probably costs the bank more money than what's actually stolen on the day. Some branches might get robbed frequently because of the neighbourhood they are in, or the location somehow makes it easy to get in and get away quick (like it's on a street not in a paved shopping area so easy to escape from in a car.) In that case the branch might eventually be closed because it's no longer worth the trouble and the danger to the staff. So then the local community is the one feeling the effects and some account holders might move to another bank that does still have a branch nearby - especially local businesses who need to pay in their cash takings every day. __________________ Writer of m/m romance. My novels are available from Loose Id. See more details in my Absolute Write Library thread.

11-30-2012, 09:57 PM	#7
Drachen Jager Professor of applied misanthropy Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Vancouver Posts: 10,372	Arson won't do it either. Banks are insured to hell and back. You know what does hurt a bank? There was an instance in Europe a few years back, where one of the bank's traders used money he shouldn't really have had access to to make stock-market plays that he thought were solid, but turned out to be a bad deal. The bank lost billions. I think they had to agree to a buyout from another bank to avoid total financial collapse. Another thing that can hurt a bank is a 'run'. Basically if every customer (or even 10%) of a bank's customers ask for their money back all at once, it can be enough to sink a bank. They don't have the cash on hand to cover that sort of thing, and they'd be forced to sell assets at a loss to cover everything. This caused many bank collapses back the mid-early 20th century, but I think there are better safeguards against that sort of thing happening now. I think the S&L crisis in the '80s was a version of this too, but I may be wrong. __________________ When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they're almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they're almost always wrong.—Gaiman The story must strike a nerve—in me. My heart should start pounding when I hear the first line in my head. I start trembling at the risk.—Sontag Creativity is the residue of wasted time.—Einstein

11-30-2012, 10:05 PM	#9
Drachen Jager Professor of applied misanthropy Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Vancouver Posts: 10,372	Ahh here's the European story, Jérôme Kerviel, a rogue trader, lost 4.5 billion Euros of Société Générale's money. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A9r%C3%B4me_Kerviel For more ideas, look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_fraud __________________ When people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they're almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they're almost always wrong.—Gaiman The story must strike a nerve—in me. My heart should start pounding when I hear the first line in my head. I start trembling at the risk.—Sontag Creativity is the residue of wasted time.—Einstein

12-01-2012, 12:03 AM	#10
waylander Who's going for a beer? Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: London, UK Posts: 5,180	Also have a look at Barings Bank, the rogue trader's name was Nick Leeson. He lost them over £800 million. http://www.scribd.com/doc/16606536/C...nd-Nick-Leeson __________________ Behind the smile, there's danger and a promise to be told.

12-01-2012, 12:56 AM	#11
jclarkdawe Feeling lucky, Query? Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: New Hampshire Posts: 8,684	More likely then a rouge employee is bad business sense. You acquire a whole lot of iffy mortgages and other loans that do okay in a normal business environment. But when you hit a recession, and people can't pay, all of a sudden the bottom falls out of your loan portfolio. See Washington Mutual - Wikipedia or Savings and loan crisis - Wikipedia. A rouge employee is likely covered by the bonding company, and there are some limitations normally as to how much credit of the company they can pledge. Best of luck, Jim Clark-Dawe __________________ EQUINE LIABILITY: WHAT EVERY HORSEOWNER NEEDS TO KNOW Published 2002 sold through ~~GEORGE'S STORY~~ MORTON'S FORK Let's see how many agents I can catch with the query ~~THE NEXT STEP~~ ~~ASHES TO ASHES~~ INTO THE VALLEY (~~48,000~~79,000 words) Need to up my game. THE PICTURE Might be my next project.

12-01-2012, 01:41 AM	#12
melindamusil practical experience, FTW Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 245	sigh Oh banks, why must you be so difficult? Good thing this isn't a terribly critical plot point!!

12-01-2012, 05:00 AM	#13
WeaselFire Benefactor Member Join Date: May 2012 Location: Naples, FL Posts: 963	Bans in the FDIC, most US banks, are insured by the US Government. Robberies result in virtually no financial loss. Some investment firms might be a better option, though a robbery will also not have any real effect. Investment fraud is a much better probability. Jeff

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