How to Thwart a Bank Robber Before He Even Gets Started

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid never encountered this bank set-up back when they were mixing it up with Bolivia's federales in the 1890's.  A bank where the tellers are not seen, except briefly as an image on a small video monitor.

I usually don't do any banking at Banco del Pacífico, but this week I needed to make a payment for a government fee at their Gringolandia/Quito branch on Amazonas y Veintimilla.

When I entered the bank, I saw there were six teller windows operating, but no tellers.

On closer inspection, occasionally a teller's face appeared on a video monitor.  Each teller window was equipped with a monitor, a pneumatic tube and a telephone.

After waiting in line, I approached a teller window, picked up the phone and saw the teller asking how she could assist me.  I put my cash, the payment instructions and my ID in the tube as her face disappeared from the screen.  The tube was pneumatically sucked away ... and she processed my deposit without me seeing her again.  The comprobante or proof of payment came back to me in the tube.

It was efficient if cold, but how much human warmth do you really expect from a bank deposit scenario?

At the top I suggested this set-up would stop a bank robber before he even got started.  After all, can a ladron really expect to put a robbery-note in a pneumatic tube and get stacks of billetes back from a teller who's not actually present!

Where are the tellers?  Safely standing behind the walls, I suppose.

So what do you think?  Is this the future of South American banking?

cccmedia in Quito