A FORMER bank has been converted into another kind of safe haven for valuables by a local entrepreneur who spotted a gap in the market.

Finance executive Neelam Ahmed has launched Zurich Safe Deposits in the former Habib bank building in Leeds Road, Bradford, as a result of many high street banks phasing out such services due to cost cutting.

The venture has created three full-time jobs.

Around £250,000 has been invested in converting the premises to house 1,000 security boxes along with state-of-the art security, including biometric eye recognition technology and 24-hour monitoring.

Small, medium and large security boxes can be hired for between £160 and £250 a year and customers receive £10,000 of free insurance cover as part of their subscription..

The founders are targetting people looking to store items such as gold and precious metals,

legal documents and deeds, jewellery , family heirlooms and cash.

Neelam, who works for a Leeds financial services business, said Zurich was the first independent safe deposit business in the district and sees potential for further expansion in other areas once the business is established.

SHh said: "Several high street banks have stopped providing safe deposit boxes and customers who rely on these boxes are left with few options to make sure treasured items are protected. They are being phased out by banks due to cost cutting .

"Barclays, for example, has started withdrawing the boxes from branches and they’ll all be gone by the end of the year. Barclays has written to customers and given them six months to clear out the boxes. The bank blamed storage issues for the decision and said the scheme had become complex and costly.

"Other banks, such as Lloyds and NatWest/RBS, have closed the scheme down to new customers, The Co-op Bank has also stopped this service while HSBC says it only has around seven branches out of 1,189 which offer the lockers."

Miss Ahmed, whose family has other business interests in Bradford, said the new venture provided customers with unlimited access to their boxes with no appointment needed and Zurich is open 365 days a year. Double identity checks and sophisticated security were in place.

"We provide the highest level of security, with state of the art alarms and 24 hour monitoring systems. We have bio-metric technology and high definition digital CCTV systems to provide our clients with complete peace of mind.

"Launching the business in a former bank was ideal as it already had a vault but we have invested further to provide a tailor-made highly secure facility. We currently offer 1,000 boxes but have the capacity to increase this to 2,500 " she said.

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