BBK has become the first bank in the Kingdom of Bahrain to have its own built-in dedicated state-of-art business continuity center (BCC), the bank in a statement said.
Bahrain’s pioneer retail and commercial bank BBK which has been actively pursuing its business continuity management programme over the years in line with the CBB’s mandatory requirements successfully launched the BCC.
The successful launch of the BCC was a result of implementation of the highest international standards of crisis management has enabled the bank to provide its customers and stakeholders with a continuity of critical banking services, and at the same time secure its vital assets in case of any unforeseen incident.
To ensure that the business continuity management programme and the BCC are fully equipped and functional, the top executives attended a crisis management simulation exercise.
The purpose of this exercise was to simulate a real life scenario, and then subsequently put the bank-wide business continuity plan in practice to ensure that critical banking services could be recovered and made available to its customers. The exercise was managed and coordinated by the bank’s dedicated business continuity team.
During the exercise, the bank’s entire executive management team including the Chief Executive Abdulkarim Bucheery, General Manager of Shared Services Reyadh Sater and General Manager of Banking Group Shaikh Rashed Al Khalifa, participated and witnessed the practical applications of the BCC.
They were given multiple strategic challenges to manage during the simulation exercise. While the executive management was managing the crisis strategically, the business continuity teams from the business and support units were managing the crisis at a tactical and operational level by exercising their respective business continuity plans. “Approximately 120 employees from all areas participated in this exercise during which all critical components of the business continuity plan were put into practice successfully. From the time of the sudden initiation of the crisis situation, to the actual recovery and availability of critical banking services to its customers – the complete plan was executed smoothly,” the bank in a statement said.
A simulation media conference was also conducted to exercise the handling of live media questions during a crisis. Abdulkarim Bucheery, Reyadh Sater, Shaikh Rashed Al Khalifa, along with the head of corporate communications and the head of business continuity planning unit constituted the BBK media conference panel with the rest of the attendees as media representatives.
“The success of the business continuity simulation exercise is a major milestone for BBK. It demonstrates the bank’s commitment towards its customers, its aim to always strive for excellence and dedication towards its stakeholders and at the same time ensuring its compliance with all requirements of the local regulatory bodies,” said Abdulkarim Bucheery while expressing his satisfaction on achieving this milestone.
“We are always proud to be at the forefront of banking services in Bahrain with the most advanced technology and to also remain the market leaders in terms of compliance and innovation,” he added.