UK's biggest cash services deal hands Securicor market lead

In what's the biggest outsourcing deal signed yet in the UK cash processing sector – worth in excess of £200 million over ten years – Securicor has become the outsourced service provider for Alliance & Leicester Cash Services. The contract cements Securicor's position as the leading provider in the UK outsourced cash services market.

As part of the new deal, Securicor has assumed ownership of Alliance & Leicester's high tech Basingstoke Cash Centre and, in the longer term, will be using its own cash supercentre network (due for completion in the next two years).

An official statement to the security trade press suggested that no redundancies have resulted at the Basingstoke operation.

The signing of this deal, in conjunction with its current note and coin activities, means that Securicor will now process £90 billion of cash each year for a range of financial institutions and retail customers.

Speaking about the contract to Security Management Today, Securicor chief executive Nick Buckles said: "Securicor's stated goal has been to become the leading player in outsourced cash services. This deal with one of the UK's largest cash generating financial institutions provides us with the ideal platform to achieve that aim."

Buckles added: "The co-location of cash centres with Securicor's existing cash transportation network offers customers the benefits of increased cash processing efficiency combined with major logistics savings, while enabling them to benefit from further economies of scale as more financial institutions outsource their cash processing."

Cash processing is critical to the flow of funds in the economy as the efficiency of the process affects the growth of money supplies. Here in the UK we've designed one of the most efficient methods of cash processing in the world. The UK model has evolved over a number of years to the outsourced model operated today.

Securicor's Dutch subsidiary has been awarded – and is now operating – the first private sector detention contract awarded by the Government of the Netherlands.

The contract is a direct result of the company's acquisition of the former Randon business that was completed back in April 2001. That business has now been integrated into the Securicor Group, and now provides customers with the full range of Securicor's core products.

The new contract with the Dutch Justice Department (DGI) provides management, staff and facilities for the detention of offenders imprisoned for drug-related offences. The prison complex is provided by the Dutch authorities.