Blog Archives

If you have valuables or irreplaceable items you need to keep safe and secure, what is the best option for you? Whether it’s cash, jewellery, gold bullion or just important paperwork you need to keep safe, there are a number of things you should consider when deciding between a home safe or a safe deposit box.

1. A Safe Deposit Box is better value. A small, mid-range home safe will cost approx. €1,000-€1,500 (before fitting costs) – whereas a safe deposit box starts at only €199 per year – giving you over 5 years total safety and security, with 7 day access for less than the cost of the home safe.

2. A Safe Deposit Box will offer better protection from fire. The aforementioned home safe would have a fire rating of Grade 1, this will only offer protection from fire for 30 minutes whereas the safe deposit box in this instance is in a Grade 8 vault, offering a hugely increased fire and security rating.

3. A Safe Deposit box offers much more protection from thieves. People believe they can ‘hide’ their home safe from thieves and burglars. The latest research and expertise from the police proves this is rarely the case.  Burglars are now breaking into homes complete with handheld metal detectors (easily available to buy online) – they can then ‘sweep’ the entire property in 5-10mins and will almost always find the ‘hidden’ safe. Thieves will then cause major destruction to property in removing these home safes.  It is also worth bearing in mind that if they cannot remove the safe, they may then wait until such time as the homeowner or family is actually in the home, to return and under use or threat of violence make the homeowner comply with their demands to open the safe.

4. Home Safes are notoriously easy to ‘crack’ open. All one has to do is watch an episode of ‘Storage Wars’ on TV, or many other similar TV shows, to see just how easy it is to open a home safe. Alternatively, a quick google search of ‘how to crack a home safe’ returns findings of over 7 million results! (a lot with videos). Safe Deposit Boxes however, are housed within a secure vault, which is practically impossible to open.

 5. You can save money on home insurance with the use of a Safe Deposit Box. If you have a home safe, your valuables will still be included in your home insurance – which means you will still be paying for their cover – especially if they are ‘specified items’. When you rent a safe deposit box you can remove these ‘specified items’ from your home insurance policy therefore lowering your premium.

While there are many more advantages to having a safe deposit box over a home safe, it is worth pointing out that any additional security measures you take with your valuables at home will normally be justified.  For more information on renting your own private safe deposit box contact: cyprusvaults.com/ or call: 0141 343 1305.

Nicola Sturgeon MSP has officially opened Scotland’s first independent safe deposit box service in Glasgow.

Based in the city’s southside, Edinburgh Vaults has been introduced in response to the major banks withdrawing the service that safeguards people’s valuable possessions.

The venture is being led by David Walsh and Seamus Fahy, who have invested in the region of £1m equipping the vault with the latest state-of-the-art surveillance technology, including seismic shock sensors, 24/7 monitoring and biometric identification technology.

Employing five staff, the Edinburgh facility is part of a strategy to expand the model across the UK and Ireland, following the successful launch of its first site in Dublin in 2013. The business is expected to grow its staff numbers in Edinburgh to 15 by the middle of 2017.

Speaking at the officially opening today, Friday 19^th, Nicola Sturgeon, the MSP for Edinburgh Southside, said: “………………..”

Seamus thanked the MSP for her attendance, as he revealed that Edinburgh Vaults is already growing a strong customer base with both homeowners and the local business community.

He said: “Firstly I would like to thank Nicola Sturgeon MSP for her attendance and support as we launch a new service in Scotland, it is very much appreciated.

“We launched in Dublin three years ago, very much in response to demand from people who had either lost confidence in the banking system or were looking to keep possessions safe amidst rising crime figures.

“The business has delivered consistent growth and we have been exploring opportunities to grow our footprint across other UK regions.

“After considerable due diligence we identified Scotland as a key growth region, mainly due to the fact that the banks no longer offer the service and there are no other providers in the market place.

“We have already witnessed a strong demand for our service with homeowners and the business community, and our client footprint stretches as far as Aberdeen, where oil & gas workers are keen to keep their valuables safe when working offshore.”

Typical items stored in a safe deposit box include cash, jewellery, family heirlooms, gold bullion, Title Deeds for a property, memory devices, watch collections and passports.

With latest Police Scotland figures showing that there were 20,607 reported housebreakings in Scotland in 2014/15, Seamus expects demand for the service to grow.

To meet this demand, Edinburgh Vaults has in the region of 10,000 boxes, which come in ten different sizes and start from £150 a year. Client have unlimited access seven days per week and there is no appointment necessary.

Seamus added: “While crime overall is falling, figures show that housebreakings remain high and thieves are certainly becoming more and more sophisticated in their efforts to target properties – making it vital for individuals and business owners to safeguard their valuables and money.

“Complete peace of mind can only be given through the use of a safe deposit box, which is why an increasing number of people across Scotland are turning to us to provide a convenient and affordable way to protect valuable possessions.

“We have built in capacity to meet this increasing demand and will grow our staff numbers to ensure we provide a comprehensive and personal service to our customers.”

The vault is open 362 days a year, and was designed in partnership with security consultants working on behalf of insurer Lloyd’s of London.

What is being billed as “Scotland’s first independent safe deposit box service” has been launched following an investment of more than £1 million.

Edinburgh Vaults said it had made the move in response to the major banks withdrawing the service that safeguards people’s valuable possessions.

The venture is being led by David Walsh and Seamus Fahy, who have invested in equipping the vault with state-of-the-art surveillance technology, including seismic shock sensors, making a Hatton Garden-style heist impossible, it has been claimed.

Employing five staff, the Edinburgh facility is part of a strategy to expand the model across the UK and Ireland, following the successful launch of an initial site in Dublin, in 2013. The business is expected to grow its staff numbers in Edinburgh to 15 by the middle of 2017.

Fahy said: “We identified Scotland as a key growth region, mainly due to the fact that the banks no longer offer the service.”

Read more: http://www.scotsman.com

When we launched our Safe Deposit Box business in Dublin, we provided various sized Safe Deposit Boxes capable of storing cash, jewellery, title deeds, gold bullion etc.

We quickly realised that there was also strong demand for larger secure vaults capable of storing Fine Art, Antiques etc. On a daily basis, we were receiving enquiries for larger storage units. We then contacted a number of Art and Antique Dealers and Galleries in Ireland who confirmed that such a service would be invaluable both to the themselves and to their customers.

We also contacted several Safe Deposit Box facilities in the UK to assess demand there. Harrods Safe Deposit Boxes in London confirmed to us that there was a waiting list of 4 years for their walk-in vaults. Typical clients were storing fine art, large antique furniture and gold / silver bullion in their larger vaults.

Edinburgh Vaults now offers this service to its customers.

Bitvendo, the company that provides Bitcoin ATM facilities here, has formed a partnership with Merrion Vaults to provide a safe deposit facility for the digital currency.

Giles Byrne, head of marketing with Bitvendo, said Merrion Vaults was a natural partner for the group as there was a demand from holders of Bitcoin for somewhere to store their digital currency safely. “We have encrypted wallets inside the vaults. If you want to send bitcoin into those wallets, they are stored offline in an encrypted format where nobody can hack them.”

Keeping valuables at home is an open invitation to burglars, so why not keep them in a secure vault. asks Mark Keenan.

A wealthy Dublin-based entrepreneur is heading off to see a hypnotist this week – to help him remember where he stashed a wad of tens of thousands of euro he had hidden in a “safe place” in his house.

Having hidden away several stacks of cash for a rainy day, he recently went to retrieve them and discovered he couldn’t account for that last hiden hole.

Household stash mishaps are becoming far more common among the super rich.

Last year the gardai recovered more than 200 grand concealed in the former home of developer Tom McFeely on Ailesbury Road in Dublin 4 (Mr McFeely has denied it is his). Whoever put it there, had certainly hidden it away, believing it to be safe.

Then there was the case of the Barnardos curtains in highbrow Dublin 6. Charity shop staff discovered thousands of euro sewn into a pair of curtains donated by a resident in the area. The money was returned to the embarrassed owner after the shop issued an appeal through the gardai.

As an owner of a Safe Deposit Box facility, I constantly get asked the question “What is typically stored in a Safe Deposit Box?”

Firstly, I would like to state that we never know what a customer stores in their Safe Deposit Box. Each box contains a tray similar to the image attached. When a customer arrives at our facility, they remove the tray from the Safe Deposit Locker and take it to a private viewing room where there are no cameras and total privacy.

We generally advise clients to store items of value, items that are of sentimental value and items that are very difficult to replace if lost or stolen.

Typical Items Stored in a Safe Deposit Box include: