As part of its collaborative drive to strengthen information security management and payment systems in the country, Jaiz Bank plc, pioneer of non-interest bank in the country, has formally received two certifications.
The bank received the ISO 27001 for information security management systems, 2013 version as well as Payment Cards Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS), affirming its compliance with global best practices.
Muhammad Nurul Islam, managing director of the bank, in his remarks during the formal certificate award ceremony in Abuja, described the award as historic, saying that it took a short period of four months to achieve both certifications, making it the first to attain such feat.
According to him, “this will make Jaiz bank a CBN-compliant institution, help the bank to establish relationship with any international organisation and extend services to our customers in a safe, secure and seamless environment.”
Adedoyin Odunfa, managing director, Digital Jewels, on her part, said the ISO 27001 standard was acclaimed as the world’s highest standard on information security management systems capable of ensuring that information was managed in the most secure manner that will prevent information loss, and unauthorised disclosure or compromise.
The PCI DSS is a widely accepted set of policies and procedures intended to optimise the security of credit, debit and cash card transactions and protect cardholders against misuse of their personal information, Odunfa said.
To her, “Nigeria in line with the cashless policy has increased the level of card transactions that goes on within the system, it is therefore the responsibility of every responsible organisation to put in place standards that will protect the cardholders’ information when used.”
Ahmad Ratiq Alkhatib, representative of the British Standards Institute (BSI), at the presentation, urged management of Jaiz Bank to work harder to maintain the standards already attained to enable them recertification after three years.
He expressed the commitment of BSI to continue to work with them to see areas of improvement in the standards to ensure the bank remained certified.
KELECHI EWUZIE
