Business award for Bank Muscat

Bank Muscat, the flagship financial services provider in the Sultanate, has won a prestigious award from Business Continuity Institute for the Best Performing Business Continuity Plan at the regional and global levels. Said Al Badai, DGM branches and BCP chairman, received the regional and global awards at the award ceremony held in Abu Dhabi and London. Said Al Badai said: "As the nation's leading bank, Bank Muscat aims to set a benchmark in Business Continuity Plan (BCP). The bank has invested significantly to protect itself from any eventualities that could disrupt business and service to customers comprising the largest banking family in Oman and beyond. Bank Muscat's BCP is a set of reliable contingency plans and activities, which protects the business and ensures continuity of service to customers in all circumstances. Early this year, the bank achieved a unique IT disaster recovery capability. The disaster recovery project marked a big milestone for the bank in managing its business continuity, thereby reducing the single biggest risk. In case of any unforeseen circumstances when the production data centre is down, the bank now has the capability to serve all customers from the disaster recovery site. This facility is the first-of-its-kind in Oman and the region. Said Al Badai added; "Bank Muscat attaches prime importance to business continuity planning to manage institutional and systemic risks. The bank understands that forward planning is the key to success in recovering from a crisis. The BCP looks at ways and means to equip the bank to deal with a variety of crises that may come its way, providing the right set of tools and response mechanisms, as also identifying key procedures that will help protect the organisation and people during a crisis. In 2007, Bank Muscat was fast in bouncing back from the throes of Cyclone Gonu that caused widespread devastation across the Sultanate. The bank's BCP team was in a proactive 'war-room' situation even before the onset of Cyclone Gonu to activate the bank's crisis management plans and ensure uninterrupted service to customers nationwide. Bank Muscat recognises that business continuity planning is of paramount significance in today's business scenario and is crucial to managing institutional and systemic risks. The bank's BCP process is subjected to continuous review and upgrading to keep pace with the dynamic and ever changing business environment that the bank operates in. Said Al Badai said: The real test of resilience and success of a BCP programme lies not only in its ability to help an organisation eventually recover from a disaster, but also in its ability to empower an organisation to continue operations and serve its customers without major service disruption even during unforeseen crises. "Bank Muscat is proud to be recognised at the regional and global level for its exceptional efforts in risk management and business continuity planning." Times OF Oman