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CBN issues IT guidelines to banks

By on January 18, 2014

The Central Bank of Nigeria has issued a blueprint for Information Technology standards and the governance framework to be adopted by all banks.

The CBN said the development was based on the need to identify and adopt global IT standards.

This, it said, would provide the guidelines for quality IT service delivery in the banking industry, through the IT infrastructure transformation programme sponsored by the Bankers’ Committee in 2010.

In a circular to banks dated January 15, the central bank said the blueprint was available on its website pending the completion and launching of the Bankers Committee IT standards portal where it would be hosted permanently.

The circular signed by the Director, Information Technology Department, CBN, Mr. John Ayoh, stated, “Pursuant to the need to identify and adopt global IT standards which would provide guidelines for and serve as reference points in ensuring the quality of IT service delivery in the Nigerian Banking Industry, through the IT infrastructure Transformation programme sponsored by the Bankers’ Committee in 2010, the blueprints for the IT standards and the governance framework has been defined and now, by this circular, released to the industry for adoption by all banks.”

The CBN said a five-year implementation road map for the IT standards had been defined within which banks were expected to implement in accordance with the set timeliness and the defined priorities.

The central bank noted that the implementation would be in a continuum approach such that initial implementations would target maturity level 3 and subsequently improved to include certifications and higher maturity levels.

It added, “The IT Standards Council, to be reconstituted after every two years, has been put in place to drive the adoption, implementation and compliance to the IT standards in the banking industry. The compliance audits shall begin at the end of the prescribed adoption periods as indicated on the implementation road map. Baseline assessment for priority 1 standards shall be carried out in banks in the first quarter of 2014.”

 

 

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