The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr Andrew Pocock, on Wednesday in Abuja commended Nigeria’s apex bank for achieving the Information Security Management System (ISMS) certification.
Pocock gave the commendation at the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) ISMS certification award dinner.
The envoy noted that CBN, being the first regulatory institution in Nigeria to achieve the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) certification, was a major achievement.
He said that the CBN could now be ranked with international organisations like the World Bank.
The ISMS certification is part of the ISO certification that brings a systematic approach to managing confidential and sensitive corporate information to make it secured.
The CBN was certified with the ISO 27001: 2005 version of the ISMS.
“The fact that the apex regulatory body has achieved this kind of certification is a huge confidence booster,” he said.
Pocock said the volume of trade between UK and Nigeria would increase to eight billion pounds in 2014.
He said that to boost partnership with Nigeria, Britain would double bilateral trade from the current four billion to eight billion pounds in 2014.
The Governor of the CBN, Mr Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, said that the adoption of the ISO certification would boost confidence of stakeholders in the way their sensitive information in CBN custody was being managed.
Sanusi, who was represented by the bank’s Deputy Governor, Corporate Services, Mr Suleiman Barau, said the certification was not an easy feat, adding that it took the bank a year to achieve it.
“Acquiring the ISO certification is more than a paper certification for CBN because it is imperative for the CBN, as custodians of information of national relevance, to have adequate control in managing the information in its custody.
“It is our strategic focus to ensure that we manage our information in such a way that it will prevent information loss, unauthorised disclosure or compromise.
“It is therefore gratifying to know that this certification puts us at the same level with world class organisations such as the World Bank and the IMF, as well as other similar global financial institutions, ” he said.
The Deputy Governor, Economic Policy, CBN, Dr Sarah Alade, said that getting certified was because of the commitment of the CBN in conjunction with the Banker’s Committee, to transform the financial service industry.
“The aim was to significantly enhance operational efficiency and cost effectiveness of banks in Nigeria through shared services.
“An integral part of this is standardisation compliance in managing critical information asset and to engender the needed confidence of the stakeholders in the Nigerian financial services industry,” she said.
The Managing Director, British Standard Institute, Mr Mark Bashan, said the ISO certification of the CBN showed credibility of the bank.
“This is an excellent achievement. It shows that it is working with globally recognised best practices.
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