Safe Deposit Lockers vs. Home Safes

Many people buy safes for their home, believing their valuables will be secure there. However, it is important to note that when it comes to security, you are only as safe as your weakest link. Here are 4 key factors to consider when thinking about the safest place to store your valuables:

1. How difficult is it to gain access?

It is not about the strength of the safe that you’re buying (although buying a safe any less than a couple of hundred kgs is pointless as it can be easily carried out). The more important question is how difficult is it to gain access in the first place – once a burglar gets in, they can always drill and break even the best of safes. Is your home frequented by repairmen, technicians, plumbers, or any outsider who can be a possible threat? Insider threats from your own domestic staff such as housekeepers, nannies, and drivers can also represent a major vulnerability as they are likely to spend lots of time at home, unattended and uninterrupted. They also know your regular patterns and when you are expected to be at home.

In a safe deposit vault, the access is limited to employees and customers who must pass through several barriers, with each step verified and documented. Even beyond working hours, there is constant monitoring and surveillance through sophisticated alarm systems, motion and vibration sensors, CCTV, etc. At CB Lockers, our vault door is equipped with a lock whose passcode automatically changes every 15 minutes and has a time-lock preventing after-hours access.

2. What is the cost of security?

Theoretically, you could install a vault inside your house, with an advanced biometric access and 24/7 surveillance system. For a select few, it may make sense to build a Fort Knox inside their homes, especially if they need constant access to their valuables. But for most people, it is safer to outsource the security to experts who will guard their valuables constantly without fail and are dedicated to this single goal without other distractions, while being affordable.

3. Are your valuables insured?

Standard home insurance plans generally do not cover cash, jewelry, and other valuables unless specifically insured. A bank doesn’t cover the contents of your box either because they don’t know what’s inside it. At CB Lockers, however, you have the option of purchasing a customized insurance plan to cover the cost of your specific valuables in the case that anything happens, from a fire to a burglary. This provides an extra layer of security and peace of mind that you simply can’t get anywhere else.

4. Have you diversified your risk?

The old adage ‘Don’t put all your eggs in one basket’ certainly holds true in this case. It just doesn’t make sense to put everything in one place, no matter how secure it is. There are always hundreds of risk factors in any given place – structural risk, political risk, employee risk, natural disaster risk, just to name a few. The more you are able to balance these risk factors through diversification, the safer you will be. So yes, it absolutely makes sense to keep some of your valuables at home, but certainly not everything. At CB Lockers, we have many customers who divide this risk by opening accounts with us at more than one branch. In fact, it may even make sense for some to open with another provider to reduce organization risk and if possible to keep some valuables in another country to reduce location risk.

Here is a list of some of the world’s best offshore private vaults.