Interview: Tomas Deml, Prague Safe Deposit

Two years ago, Tomas Deml moved back to his native Prague from London. He had been working for Chequepoint Group in London for six years, and was transferred to become director of the Chequepoint Group Czech Republic. Among the several services offered by Chequepoint’s various businesses is Prague Safe Deposit (PSD), a safe deposit box service in the center of Prague. If you have valuables you need to keep safe, PSD can help.

Deml knows that solid, top-notch security is the number one priority for customers of PSD, and he points out that, although the company has only been around since 1992, the building itself in which PSD is located was built in 1920, as a bank building. This means that the PSD office and deposit boxes actually sit within the 1.5 meter thick; concrete and steel walls that made up the safe of the former bank – just one of the multiple layers of security enveloping PSD. (The original bank safe doors are still intact but for decorative purposes.) A security guard and assistance is present 24/7 on the PSD premises, available to help customers and make them feel more comfortable if they drop by after the building is locked (from 10pm to 6am). Need more safety? There are 27 security cameras throughout the facilities, plus 17 panic buttons scattered throughout the office and safe deposit box rooms (and even in the private viewing rooms). Press one of those and off goes an alarm directly connected to the Czech Police (who arrive on scene in 5-10 minutes). The alarm will also go off if the locker door remains open for over 10 minutes. Tomas adds that once a month, someone from the Czech Police comes to PSD to verify that the alarms and other security measures are all in proper working order. Motion sensors and fire and smoke alarms are also present within and without the office and safe deposit box rooms.

Five years back, due to customer demand, PSD expanded its offering to larger-sized safe deposit boxes that allow storage of paintings, musical instruments or other bigger, valuable items. The smaller-sized boxes come in a range of seven different sizes, more suitable for storing jewelry, money, documents, passports, etc.

According to Deml, 50 percent of PSD’s clients are foreigners – half of whom own businesses here but do not live in Prague. The other half are living and working here. But aside from expats and tourists, PSD’s services are also targeted toward accountants, notaries and artists and collectors of paintings and coins, “and all customers that feel responsible for their valuables, and do not want to leave them unsafe at home, the office or in the hotel room,” he explains.

PSD is attracting not only individuals but also companies, including law firms, accounting firms, and even IT companies who wish to store data on CDs and especially tapes. Tapes are affected by magnetic interference, something that does not pose a problem within the thick walls of PSD’s office.

Because PSD offers a unique service for a selective target group, Deml says it can be challenging to create the right kind of advertising.

“You can’t make a huge ad on TV, so mainly it’s word of mouth or through hotels, etc,” he explains.

Although banks have traditionally been the place to go for the storage of valuables, Deml explains that the major advantage of the services offered by PSD is the flexibility. Not only is PSD open to specific rental length requests, but customers also have 24/7 access to their safe deposit boxes. Items stored at a bank are usually only accessible during the bank’s office hours, which are during the weekdays, but not weekends. Access to a safe deposit box at PSD involves a three-step procedure, for which the customer needs to use their magnetic card and PIN code (to enter the safe deposit box room), and then the key for the safe deposit box. Deml explains that 70 percent of his customers use this method of access, while the rest have a special arrangement for access. For example, person A can come with person B to access the safe deposit box, but person B can never come with person C. While the smaller boxes are accessible 24/7, the larger boxes are only accessible during office hours. Currently, PSD is at 80 percent capacity.

In the two years he has overseen PSD in Prague, Deml has found that business picks up right after summer and Christmas – two times of the year when people commonly have acquired something valuable. Although most of PSD’s clients store their valuables for the long term, from 6 months to one year (the maximum), PSD offers storage for the very short-term, even as short as 24 hours (the minimum); something Deml says attracts tourists or businesspeople passing through and who want to store their passports.