Branch IT rollouts and security infrastructure for financial institutions
Repeatable branch builds, properly segmented networks, surveillance that produces evidence rather than reassurance, and power that never interrupts a working day.
Banking is the sector where consistency matters more than any individual specification. A financial institution running a branch network needs every branch to be identical — the same machine build, the same switch configuration, the same camera positions, the same rack layout — because the alternative is a support function that has to learn each site individually. A supplier who delivers a technically excellent but slightly different installation at each branch has created a long-term operational cost that dwarfs whatever was saved.
So branch work is built as a repeatable template rather than as a series of individual projects. One documented standard build, one cabling and labelling scheme, one camera position schedule adapted to each floor plate, and one documentation format so a support engineer arriving at any branch knows where everything is before opening the door. Where a branch genuinely cannot follow the template — an older building, an unusual floor plate — that variance is documented explicitly rather than silently absorbed.
The second distinguishing requirement is evidential quality. Surveillance in a financial environment exists to produce footage that will stand up when it is genuinely needed, at the teller position, the ATM and the entrance, which means identification-grade specification rather than general coverage. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has a substantial banking footprint — the Bank of Khyber alone operates across around 260 locations — and branch estates of that scale live or die on how repeatable the standard is.
What banking & finance buyers actually order
Drawn from what this sector requests most, and why the specification differs from a general commercial buyer.
Teller and back-office workstations
Identical build across the estate, imaged centrally, so a replacement machine can be swapped in without site-specific configuration.
Branch switching and segmented networking
Core banking, surveillance, ATM and guest traffic separated by design, with a consistent VLAN scheme across every branch.
Identification-grade CCTV
Teller positions, ATM fascia and entrances specified for identification rather than detection, with retention set for evidential need.
Access control on secure areas
Cash handling areas, server rooms and back offices with door-forced and door-held alarms integrated with the covering camera.
UPS on every branch
Interruption during a trading day is not acceptable, so protected power is base specification and runtime is tested at commissioning.
Receipt and document printers
High duty cycle with consumables that must be available in-district, since a branch cannot pause while a cartridge is imported.
What goes wrong for banking & finance buyers
Each of these describes what actually happens, why it damages trust, and what we do differently.
Every branch built slightly differently
Individual branch installations are each quoted and executed in isolation, so cabling schemes, switch configurations and camera positions drift apart across the estate.
The bank’s own support function has to treat every branch as unfamiliar, response times lengthen, and nobody can produce an accurate picture of what is installed where.
We build to one documented standard applied across the estate, with any site-specific variance recorded explicitly in that branch’s documentation. A support engineer arriving at any branch knows the layout before entering.
Surveillance that cannot identify anybody
Cameras are installed to cover the branch generally, using wide-angle lenses that produce recognisable activity but not identifiable faces at the counter or the ATM.
The footage is adequate for confirming that an incident occurred and useless for the purpose it was actually bought for, which only becomes apparent when an investigation requests it.
Each position is specified against a stated objective with the pixel density that objective requires at that distance, and commissioned by reviewing actual recorded footage in daylight and after dark before sign-off.
Flat networks carrying everything together
Branch networks that grew incrementally end up with core banking systems, surveillance recorders and customer WiFi sharing the same broadcast domain.
The exposure is real and difficult to remediate once the estate is live, and it is frequently discovered during an audit rather than during design.
Segmentation is designed in from the start with a consistent VLAN scheme across every branch, and inter-segment rules applied and documented at installation rather than retrofitted under audit pressure.
What a branch estate engagement usually looks like
A representative branch programme starts with a single pilot site rather than a full rollout. We design and install one branch to a documented standard — build image, VLAN scheme, cabling and labelling convention, camera position schedule, rack layout and documentation format — and then review it with the bank’s IT and security functions before anything is replicated. Once the template is agreed, subsequent branches are executed against it with a per-site survey identifying only the genuine variances. The documentation set is produced identically for every site, so the estate remains legible as it grows.
This describes how a representative project in this sector runs. It is not a client case study — we do not publish attributed project details without written permission, and we do not publish unattributed ones at all.
What you get from us
- One pilot branch designed, installed and reviewed before estate rollout
- Documented standard build covering machines, network, cameras and rack layout
- Per-site survey recording only genuine variances from the template
- Consistent documentation format across every branch in the estate
- Identification-grade camera commissioning reviewed on actual footage, day and night
What we supply to banking & finance
Listed in the order this sector typically requests them.
Security & Surveillance
CCTV, access control and monitoring — designed around what you actually need to see, with storage sized for the retention period you require.
DetailsNetwork Equipment
Switches, routers, structured cabling and wireless — designed for the building you actually have, then labelled and documented properly.
DetailsComputers & Laptops
Desktops, laptops and workstations sourced against your actual workload, imaged and asset-tagged before they reach your team.
DetailsPower & Solar Solutions
Solar, inverters, battery storage and UPS — sized against your actual load profile and tariff, with the payback arithmetic shown honestly.
DetailsServers & Storage
Tower and rack servers, NAS and backup storage — sized honestly, racked properly, and commissioned with the power and cooling actually checked.
DetailsPrinters & Scanners
Office and high-volume printing, scanning and document capture — specified on cost per page, with consumables you can actually keep buying.
DetailsPricing for banking & finance
Branch programmes are priced per site against an agreed standard build, so a bank can forecast the estate cost accurately once the pilot is complete rather than pricing each branch as an unknown. The pilot itself is quoted separately and includes the design and documentation work that subsequent sites reuse. Site-specific variances are quoted as identified additions against the template, which keeps the estate budget legible and makes it obvious which branches are genuinely more expensive and why.
Older KPK branch buildings break the template most often
Across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa a meaningful proportion of branch premises occupy older buildings with solid masonry construction, limited existing containment and electrical installations that predate current load. These are precisely the sites where a standard template developed on newer premises stops fitting — wireless coverage falls short, cable routes do not exist, and the available circuit cannot carry a UPS plus the branch load. Surveying the older sites first, rather than last, produces a far more accurate estate budget than extrapolating from the easy branches.
Banking & Finance — questions we get asked
Specific to this sector's constraints, not general enquiries.
How do you keep a multi-branch rollout consistent?
By designing and agreeing a template at a pilot site before replicating anything. That template covers the machine build image, the VLAN and addressing scheme, the cabling and labelling convention, the camera position schedule relative to the counter and entrance, the rack layout and the documentation format. Every subsequent branch is then executed against it, with a short per-site survey identifying only genuine variances — an unusual floor plate, an existing structural constraint — which are recorded in that branch’s documentation rather than quietly absorbed. The result is an estate where any support engineer can work at any branch without learning it first.
What camera specification do teller positions and ATMs actually require?
Identification grade, which is a substantially higher requirement than general coverage and drives lens choice, mounting distance and camera count. The practical test is whether the recorded footage would allow someone who has never met the individual to identify them from the recording alone — not merely to observe that a transaction took place. That typically means a dedicated camera per teller position at a controlled distance rather than one wide camera covering the counter, and a camera positioned to capture the face at the ATM rather than the fascia. We commission by reviewing the actual recorded output with you, in daylight and after dark, before sign-off.
How do you carry out branch work without interrupting trading?
Almost everything disruptive happens outside banking hours, and the parts that cannot be are staged so that no customer-facing position is out of service during trading. Machine replacement is done as a swap with pre-imaged units, so a teller position is down for minutes rather than hours. Cabling, containment and camera installation happen after close. Where a branch has to be cut over to new switching, that is scheduled for a weekend with a tested rollback plan, because the one thing you cannot do is discover a problem at nine on a Monday morning with no way back.
Can you separate ATM and surveillance traffic from the core banking network?
Yes, and it should be treated as a design requirement rather than a hardening exercise afterwards. We configure a consistent VLAN scheme across the estate separating core banking, ATM, surveillance, staff and customer traffic, with explicitly documented rules governing what may cross between them and management interfaces confined to their own segment. Doing this at installation is straightforward; retrofitting it across a live branch estate that grew organically is considerably more disruptive and is usually triggered by an audit finding rather than by choice.
What UPS runtime does a branch need?
Enough to carry the branch through a short interruption without any customer-facing disruption, and enough to shut down cleanly if the interruption extends. In practice that means sizing for the teller positions, branch switching, surveillance recorder and any local server as a protected group rather than protecting individual machines piecemeal. We test the actual runtime at commissioning rather than accepting a nameplate figure, and for existing branches we would strongly recommend measuring what current batteries genuinely deliver — a unit specified for twenty minutes five years ago frequently delivers a small fraction of that today.
Other sectors we supply
Where we cover
Working in banking & finance? Tell us your constraints.
Send the requirement and the things that limit it — access windows, budget release schedule, documentation your process needs. We will quote against both.