BSI certifies Fidelity Bank’s system, operations

THE British Standard Institute (BSI) has awarded Fidelity Bank Plc the prestigious International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 22301 certificate after months of rigorous Business Impact Analysis (BIA) and Risk Assessment across its departments.

By implementing the ISO 22301 (Business Continuity Management System), it is a critical step towards achieving the bank’s corporate strategy and enhancing stakeholders’ confidence in the brand.

Besides, it demonstrates that the lender is committed to protecting its staff and ensuring the continuity of critical business functions, mitigate risk, and sustain customer confidence in the event of a disruption.

The Manging Director and Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity Bank, Nnamdi Okonkwo, while speaking at the presentation of the certificate in Lagos yesterday, said certification to such standards will assist the bank to continually deliver exceptional service to customers. “For us as bank, the customer is the sole reason we are in business. Most disruptions to smooth business operations are caused by infrastructure outages or human error. They can also be the result of random power outages, natural disasters or international events.

“Any of these disruptions can be costly and undermine an organisation’s ability to deliver best-in-breed customer service. More importantly, unplanned outages can also create far-reaching consequences that impact long-term revenue stream, brand and ultimately, an organisation’s survival.

“It is against this backdrop that Fidelity Bank decided to take concrete steps to improve its resilience capabilities.

“Today, we have built resilience in process functions and services that are critically sensitive to time and disruptions. We have also tested our continuity plans and simulated the recovery of staff to alternate work locations,” he said. He reaffirmed that each of the bank’s core business functions and infrastructure groups now maintain and test their business continuity plans to ensure a continuous, reliable service.