Bank tries biometrics, robotics for safe deposit boxes

In a small branch in its downtown Atlanta headquarters, SunTrust became the first U.S. bank to install a robotic safe deposit box vault that allows customers to store and retrieve their valuables at an ATM-like device without having to wait for a bank employee.

“It’s really high-tech [including a biometric hand scan]. We’re the only bank in the U.S. that’s testing it,” said Tom McDermott, SunTrust’s senior vice president in charge of its retail banking strategy.

If customers like it, in this age when documents are stored and accessed online and safes can be purchased cheaply for a home, the Atlanta bank is hoping to begin installing more of the automated safe deposit vaults at branches in neighborhoods, possibly halting its slow retreat from a service that many banks have viewed as too costly and low-profit to keep offering.