Union Bank gets business continuity certification

Union Bank has been certified for its compliance with the International Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS) Standard, ISO 22301:2012. The bank was certified by the British Standards Institution (BSI) in partnership with local capacity building company- Digital Jewels, following its successful fulfilment of the rigorous requirements for this internationally recognised standard on Business Continuity Management Systems.

According to a statement by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the ISO 22301:2012 certification specifies requirements to plan, establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain and continually improve a documented management system to prepare for, respond to and recover from disruptive events when they arise.

Compliance with the BCMS standard ensures efficient response when the organisation encounters threats.In order to achieve certification to the standard, an organisation must demonstrate clear commitment towards assessing both internal and external threats and vulnerabilities and prioritizing relevant risks while implementing preventive measures.

Commenting on the bank’s recent certification, the Chief Risk Officer, Kandolo Kasongo, emphasised Union Bank’s commitment to benchmarking its processes and operations against international best practices. According to him:

“Our attainment of the new Business Continuity Management certification follows rigorous auditing of our internal processes. Therefore having successfully satisfied all the requirements for this international standard, we assure our valued customers of our readiness to continue delivering quality banking services even in the face of significant disruptions,” he said.

Over the years, Union Bank has focused on benchmarking its processes against global standards. In 2014, the Bank became the first Nigerian financial institution to be awarded the
Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, PCI DSS – Version 3.0, which it recently upgraded to PCI DSS Version 3.2.

It has also recently attained the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Standard (QMS) and Information Security Management Standard ISO/IEC 27001:2013. Attaining the BCMS standard highlights Union Bank’s commitment to its customers; to maintain effective measures for business continuity, risk management and resilience as it continues to deliver on its promise of being Nigeria’s most reliable and trusted banking partner.