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Nomura invests in access control

International bank opts for access control with a global footprint.

Headquartered in Tokyo, Nomura is a top tier international bank providing investment and merchant banking services to corporate and institutional customers. With offices in all major financial centres across the globe, the mission of Nomura is to deliver superior services and solutions to meet all investment needs of their clients. To ensure they execute their mission in a safe and secure environment, Nomura has invested in a Honeywell access control solution that is expandable for the future.

Global situation

Having offices located around the world, it is imperative that Nomura has a secure and easy to use access control system with a global footprint. One that is flexible enough to manage the access control demands at any Nomura office location from a single point while maintaining local operational autonomy.

With the ever-present threats of terrorism, choosing the right access control system for Nomura was crucial. In London, Nomura has offices in Angel Lane. When it acquired the site, upgrading the access control solution quickly became a priority for the company’s head of security in order to securely manage authorised visitors, account for people while on site and keep staff members secure at all times.

The Angel Lane building contains a large number of personnel, all requiring varying levels of access control authority, some to strictly controlled, authorised areas. The access control system must operate 24/7 to accommodate varying shift patterns and provide customised reports with multiple criteria. The system would need to store up to 4000 card holders, including staff, authorised contractors and visitors.

In addition, the solution needed to enable Nomura to separate and isolate people who make investment decisions from people who are privy to undisclosed material information which may influence those decisions. These Chinese walls are a Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulation to safeguard insider information and ensure no improper trading occurs.

Choosing Pro-Watch

A Honeywell Pro-Watch security management system (Enterprise Edition) was specified by Nomura who then invited independent security consultant CornerStone GRG to carry out security design, production of specification and manage the tendering and installation process. As a result, security integrator Universal Security Systems was awarded the installation contract.

The Pro-Watch solution would run on the bank’s own network via a single database and enable Nomura to centrally control access to an unlimited amount of doors and areas across not just the Angel Lane site, but also every other Nomura office in the world including its remote data centres. It consists of one enterprise server that provides global management of a number of independent regional servers. The enterprise server acts as central storage area for system configurations and stores cardholder information and transaction history. The regional servers function independently as local databases while sharing information with the enterprise server.

Benefits obtained

Supporting an unlimited number of cardholders and readers, Pro-Watch Enterprise combines the flexibility and scalability that Nomura requires without compromising simplicity.

The system takes the term user-friendly to a higher level and has made it simple to enforce Nomura’s access policy via built-in wizards and shortcuts. The Windows-based graphical user interface minimises operator training and the built-in software wizards enhance system uniformity across sites. This contributes to a reduced installation time and a shorter overall learning curve for new users.

Integrating with the Nomura intranet system also makes it simple for line managers to request changes to access rights for people in their department. And in relation to complying with FSA regulations, access rights are managed such that separate groups are created for employees in the corporate-advisory area and the brokering department to help enforce the Chinese walls within the bank.

With its built-in redundancy, Pro-Watch provides additional value in disaster recovery planning too. In the case of a power failure or a problem on part of the main server, access control rights can be managed at any one of the other Nomura sites on the global Pro-Watch network.

“The Honeywell Pro-Watch solution is fantastic,” comments Andy Williams, head of security (Europe, Middle East and Africa) for Nomura. “It is a robust, resilient and flexible security management system capable of integration. Integrating it with our own PeopleSoft human resource system and intranet saves us significant administrative time by eliminating repetitive data entry associated with managing and aligning cardholder information and access rights.”

Using Pro-Watch, Williams’ security team now has complete command and control over all system and event information and can monitor door alarms in multiple locations simultaneously.

Reporting is straightforward as well. In the event that historical data is required, access control logs can be quickly and simply accessed. Should a fire alarm occur, a report can be generated quickly to show the details of all personnel within the building at that point in time. Gate/time reports are also beneficial as they can be given to the HMRC as supporting evidence that an individual was present on site on a particular time and date.

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