Tina D’Agostin, CEO & Co-Founder, Alcatraz explains how to modernize access in high-stakes financial institutions.
At 7:45am, a branch manager badges in at the side entrance of a financial institution.
A contractor follows closely behind, entering in before the door closes, unchallenged and unnoticed. It seems routine, until it isn’t.
In financial institutions and environments where trust is foundational and risk tolerance is low, these everyday security gaps carry major safety concerns with significant potential liabilities.
Financial institutions operate with high expectations for security, privacy compliance and operational resilience.
While cybersecurity has matured rapidly in response to digital threats, physical access systems often remain a step behind.
Many still rely on outdated, “something you have” or “something you know” methods that confirm possession or knowledge, not “something you are” identity.
A badge can be lost, borrowed or stolen and many systems still grant access without confirming the most important factor: who is actually walking through the door.
The question isn’t whether physical access should be modernized. It’s whether institutions are willing to treat it with the same urgency and rigor as every other part of their security infrastructure.
That means holding physical access systems to the same standards already applied in the digital world, where zero trust principles often apply: never trust, always verify.
Financial institutions don’t need more layers.
They need more certainty about who is coming through the door and why they belong there.
The gap between access and identity isn’t just a risk; it’s a leadership decision.
One of the most persistent risks in physical access is tailgating: an unauthorized person follows someone with legitimate access into a secure space.
Despite persistent employee training, tailgating remains the most common access control failure, cited by 61% of organizations, according to ASIS International’s most recent Access Control Technology Report.
When it comes to access control, only 8% of businesses reported no common access control failures within the last six months.
These aren’t edge cases; they reflect a broader breakdown in how identity is verified at the door.
Even high-trust environments are vulnerable when identity is assumed rather than confirmed.
In one documented case, a security researcher once walked straight into a secure elevator at a major financial firm by simply blending in with an executive – no badge, no questions asked.
The system recorded a valid credential from the executive, but not the unverified person behind them.
That gap between a credential and a verified identity is where the real risk lives.
As the nature of work shifts, so do expectations around access.
Fewer employees carry physical keys or badges and mobile credentials have emerged as a bridge.
But mobile carries many of the same vulnerabilities as cards. Phones can be lost or stolen and batteries can die.
That’s why the real shift is toward biometrics. In this environment, identity, not possession, must form the foundation of physical security.
That shift is already underway. According to the 2024 State of Physical Access Control Report, nearly 39% of businesses now use biometric systems for physical entry, up from 30% just two years ago.
In financial services, the curve is even steeper: 87% of global banks now rely on biometric authentication, according to SecurePrivacy.ai’s 2025 Financial Data Consent Trends report.
For years, biometric access control in financial institutions was considered too risky, invasive and difficult to defend. Today, though, that landscape has changed.
The best biometric systems are built on transparency, not surveillance.
Privacy is now a core design principle. Users opt in, give consent, sign policy terms and retain control over their data. Encryption safeguards identity, while audit trails ensure visibility.
What emerges is a model where identity verification is not only seamless, but also compliant, respectful and secure.
Modern access control can’t come at the expense of privacy.
Biometric authentication, when designed responsibly, strengthens both privacy and protection.
It aligns with regulatory standards and reflects what today’s workforce values: transparency, control and trust.
Financial institutions operate under some of the most stringent compliance standards in the world.
Regulations like GLBA, GDPR and state-level biometric laws don’t just require security, they demand accountability in how identity is verified and data is handled.
Meeting that bar requires access systems designed with privacy at the core.
Modern biometric platforms take this approach by authenticating locally, or at the edge with privacy-protected templates rather than stored photos, ensuring no personally identifiable information is shared across networks.
Consent is also built into the process. Opt-in workflows allow employees to review and sign access policies and retain the ability to revoke access when needed.
Privacy-first design is the framework that makes regulatory alignment possible.
And it is shaping how the next generation of access control is being built for financial institutions and environments where trust is non-negotiable.
The shift toward identity-based access is already underway.
Financial institutions are beginning to evaluate physical access with the same level of scrutiny applied to digital infrastructure, especially when audit findings reveal gaps in verification or when badge data alone fails to meet compliance standards.
At the same time, emerging regulatory frameworks are reinforcing the shift.
Biometric-specific laws in states like Illinois, Texas and Washington now sit alongside broader mandates under GDPR and GLBA, signaling a future where biometric-based access is expected.
The institutions moving first aren’t chasing innovation.
They’re aligning access systems with the trust, accountability and auditability already required across the rest of their operations.
Security leaders in financial institutions are no longer being asked to check boxes, but to build environments where trust is measurable and defensible.
That means designing systems that go beyond regulatory thresholds to deliver confidence at every level: for employees, auditors, customers and leadership.
The next phase of physical access control will be defined by intelligence.
Systems must adapt to context, detect anomalies before they become breaches and generate audit trails that move beyond timestamps to establish clear accountability.
These capabilities already exist. What’s been missing is consistent deployment across physical environments.
That’s beginning to change. As biometric systems mature and regulatory frameworks stabilize, financial institutions have an opportunity to reframe physical access as a strategic layer of enterprise security, not just an expense.
Beyond security, modern authentication also streamlines operations by reducing re-badging costs, improving efficiency and lowering exposure to breaches and compliance penalties.
In modern financial institutions, the most sensitive spaces extend far beyond any vault.
Trading floors, executive offices, customer data rooms and operations centers all demand the highest assurance that only the right people are allowed inside.
Accountability begins by replacing assumptions with verification.
Smart access systems should confirm not just that a badge was scanned, but that the person using it is known, authorized and operating within policy.
If something goes wrong, the system should be able to show who, when and how.
Physical access control isn’t just about managing doors.
It’s about building confidence in the systems that protect people and assets, and in the policies that govern them.
Trust begins at the door, because that’s where risk begins. In an industry built on certainty, we can no longer afford to use systems that rely on assumptions.
Every identity must be verified. Every threshold must be defensible. Every access decision should reflect a single standard – one that proves we take trust seriously everywhere it counts.
How we manage physical access is no longer just a security question. It’s a reflection of how seriously we take our obligation to protect what matters most.
This article was originally published in the November edition of Security Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.