Qatar First Investment Bank (QFIB), the only un-affiliated fully Shari’ah compliant Investment bank licensed by the Qatar Financial Centre Authority, today announced that it has received ISO 27001 international certification. QFIB is the first investment bank in Qatar to receive such an accreditation for its IT Department and Data Center.
ISO 27001 is the world’s highest accreditation for information protection and security from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Achieving such a certification enforces the necessary information security controls such as customer data protection, Chinese walls and information barriers . The ISO 27001 provides a specific framework for managing information security across a number of linked processes. Organizations that adopt such a certification can be formally audited and certified compliant with the standard.
QFIB selected Ernst & Young – Qatar as its audit and advisory partner. Ernst & Young Qatar conducted a detailed risk assessment. The process was initiated in February 2010 and successfully completed in November 2010.
“Partnering with a leading firm such as Ernst & Young – Qatar to achieve the ISO 27001 certification clearly indicates QFIB’s commitment to establish an IT Governance Framework that is aligned with leading practices. The Bank has developed an IT strategy based on upgrading the Bank’s information system security to ensure the protection of our data center from a range of threats, minimize financial loss and ensure business continuity” commented Slim Bouker, QFIB’s Chief Operating Officer.
“We congratulate QFIB for being awarded the ISO 27001 certification. Investment banking business depends largely on information security. Such an initiative demonstrate’s QFIB’s determination to adopt the highest standard of information security and their keenness to develop a world class IT infrastructure”, said Robert Abboud Partner at Ernst & Young- Qatar.