The challenges of Information Technology standards and frameworks in the banking industry resonated at the seminar organized by Nihilent Nigeria, in Lagos, at the weekend.
The company- a global consulting and solutions integration had drawn industry stakeholders to brainstorming session on the issue that forms part of the requirements for banking operations.
According to the company, the event was to aid compliance to the requirements of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which recently urged banks to adopt 17 IT standards/frameworks across different technology areas.
The event however, witnessed participation from most of the leading banks in Nigeria as well as non-bank financial institutions, payments, insurance and IT companies, and conglomerates.
The organisers noted that CBN’s mandate for all the Nigerian banks raised an important issue of optimal sequence of implementing the processes under each standard.
Oti Ikomi, chairman of the company who spoke about Nihilent’s operations and service offerings, pointed out that “banks and financial institutions are now looking for solutions that not only address regulatory compliance, but also improve operational efficiency, install a robust regulatory information management system, and follow effective risk management practices.”
“The seminar focused on providing a brief on mandatory frameworks, commonalities and differences, and the adoption of an integrated approach to optimise efforts, reduce cost and meet CBN timelines,” he added.
S.O. Agboola, assistant director, Banking and Payment System, CBN commended the company for organising the event to educate the industry on such critical issue.
But Ashok Sontakke, vice-president, Quality and Processes of the company, who also noted the potential challenges faced by the banks, said that adopting the standards would involve massive change in management, processes and technology.
According to him, many of the prescribed standards have commonality and overlapping requirements.
“So it is essential to identify the same at the beginning of this improvement journey and build optimised quality management system.
“This though, can result in significant effort, but cost saving and also help in meeting CBN’s timeline,” he added.