Competition hots up as firms cash in on G4S woes

The company has signed new contracts with banks in the last four months too, and forecast that its market share could reach 20 per cent soon.

“CIT is a sensitive business. We do not want to grow it more than we can handle,” said Richard Ndege, Sales and Marketing Manager.

But even with the new of tracking technology, the industry agrees that incidence of CIT theft by employees and outsiders will only be dramatically reduced when the smoke box is introduced.

The smoke box is an intelligent box that triggers itself to discolour the currency when it is tampered with.

That currency become unusable ,according to the proposed regulations of the CBK and has to be replaced.

The cost of replacing the currency will be borne by the CIT company at a cost yet to be determined.

KK Security official however said the cost could near the six per cent the value of defaced money based on what is charged in Britain.

“The can help reduce theft incidence tremendously and reduce the cost of cash in transit by about 50 per cent. CIT costs vary widely depending on the company, amount of money and the frequency at which it will be transported,” said James Omwando, director of KK Security.

The box will also help to bring down the cost of CIT insurance that is calculated based on the company’s risk assessment by the insurer and the prevailing risks in the industry.

CIT companies said insurers have now become “very wary” of insuring CIT because of the recent spate of thefts by G4S employees.

The box will also reduce used of police escorts, which the industry said adds the cost of transporting money by 33 per cent.

The cost of the intelligent box is estimated at Sh268,000 per unit.

The industry estimates that the chase car, additional driver and at least four AP’s cost the CIT companies approximately Sh120,000 a month. The boxes have a shelf life of five years.

Kenya’s CIT companies could also use a technology known as SmartWater Technology, a product developed in Britain to protect cash in transit couriers and guards.

SmartWater marks are invisible to the naked eye and can forensically link criminals with individual crime scenes.