QNB awarded BS 25999 standard for its Business Continuity Management practices
QNB has been awarded the BS 25999-2:2007 standard for its Business Continuity Management (BCM) practices, covering its Qatar operations. The BS 25999-2:2007 standard is a global standard for Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS) developed by BSI, the National Standards Body of the UK.
QNB places paramount importance on the availability and continuity of service to customers. It has always aimed to build capabilities to deliver services to customers, particularly during unforeseen situations that may cause disruption to the delivery of normal services. These include those caused by nature as well as technical errors.
QNB's Business Continuity Management (BCM) practices ensure these functions continue to be available to customers during the most challenging and unexpected circumstances, and so providing the ability to continue to operate, trade and serve customers.
The BCM initiative at QNB started several years ago with the establishment of a distinct BCM Policy as a component of Group Risk Policy. The first assessment of BS 25999 was in 2008. While effectively implementing the Policy, QNB established recovery capabilities locally and also internationally from Europe. It also invested in increasing the resiliency of incumbent IT systems, various facilities and processes.
After achieving reasonable maturity in the practice, the Bank decided to benchmark their practice against global standards with the aim of receiving official certification.
Having successfully cleared the certification audit, QNB was awarded the certificate in July 2011 by Jaspal Panesar, Deputy Director of Trade & Investment of the British Embassy in Qatar. The certificate was accepted on behalf of the Bank by Abdulla Mubarak Al-Khalifa, General Manager, Corporate Banking, QNB.
The BS 25999 standard certificate issued by BSI is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) which is the sole domestic accreditation body recognized by the UK government to assess and certify organizations against internationally agreed standards.
The certification will benefit QNB's customers who can be assured that the Bank has the capability to continue operations even in case of a disaster. It will also provide additional international credibility for the Bank as it continues its strategic international growth in partnership with financial institutions as well as corporate and government customers who receive the same assurance of the continuity of QNB operations.
Learn about BS 25999 Certification.
