The NBB Group, comprising of the National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) and Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB), has achieved the BCI Continuity and Resilience Team Award at the Business Continuity Institute (BCI) Global Awards 2022. The accolade is an acknowledgment of the Group’s high level of organisational resilience and the effective collaboration between the two entities.

The Group’s recent recognition marks the organisation’s fourth win in succession from the same awarding body on a local and regional scale, now complimented by the Group’s achievement on an international scale. As the first organisation in Bahrain to win the award, the Group continues to present a strong case of active collaboration and teamwork to further advance its joint operations.

Building on its growing achievements, the NBB Group was first recognised at the BCI Middle East Awards in 2020 for the Continuity and Resilience Professional Award (Private Sector) awarded to Mohamed Hammad Chief of Information Security at BisB. Followed by the Collaboration in Resilience Award in 2021, signifying the growing synergy between the two entities. In 2022, the NBB Group was recognised by the award body for its Continuity and Resilience Team Award, ultimately leading to its current recognition at the BCI Global Awards for the same category. The organisation continues to demonstrate a high level of teamwork, backed by a multi-disciplinary team of professionals to further enhance the Group’s overall organisational resilience.

NBB and BisB have undertaken a comprehensive approach that aligns with international best practices and standards, enabling them to embed resilience into the organisation’s culture through training, awareness and collaborative exercises. Both organisations have also been certified against ISO 22301:2019, the latest revision of the international standard in business continuity management. The team is also actively involved in the development and enhancements of local and international business continuity and resilience best practices, regulations and standard development.

Commenting on the occasion, Jean-Christophe Durand, Chief Executive Officer of NBB, said: “Over the past year, the NBB Group has further enhanced the resilience of its operations, working collaboratively to achieve robust growth, adopt international standards and position both banks at the forefront of the banking industry. This award stands as a testament to the forward-thinking approach adopted by the Group and our ambition to lead in this space. NBB Group maintains a conducive environment to deliver best-in-class services and drive economic growth in the Kingdom.”

On his end, Mr. Yaser Alsharifi, Chief Executive Officer of BisB, said: “We are proud to be the first Group in the Kingdom to achieve this which acts as a recognition of the banks’ joint efforts. The NBB Group has been able to unify its business continuity policies, framework and methodology based on international best practices and standards, further demonstrating our cohesive teamwork strategy since the onset of our Group activities. NBB and BisB are committed to showcasing their resiliency through various initiatives and operations that fortify our standing as a leading financial institution.”

NBB Group has engaged in a line-up of successful initiatives, including training and certifying their core team on best practices of business continuity and resilience, and further expanding recovery capabilities of its internal infrastructure. Both banks have also been able to streamline Business Continuity Management (BCM) practices by utilising leading cloud based BCM solutions and consolidate business recovery facilities. The Group has additionally executed several successful innovative projects, such as the region’s first SWIFT infrastructure hosted on the Amazon Web Service (AWS) Cloud in Bahrain, as well as consolidation of the Group’s disaster recovery and IT operations infrastructure in Batelco’s Data Centre.

BCI is an international professional body that advocates for the advancement of business continuity and resilience within various institutes and has organised its awards programme across 6 regions worldwide. As the fourth award in succession for the Group, the NBB Group strives to strengthen its activities through innovative partnerships that will further enhance the industry.