For the third consecutive year, BBK, Bahrain’s pioneer in Retail and Commercial Banking, conducted a Crisis Management Simulation Exercise on June 23rd, 2012, The aim of the exercise is to invoke the bank-wide Business Continuity Plans (BCP) to ensure that critical banking services are recovered and available to customers in the shortest possible time in case of an unforeseen incident.

“In its ceaseless quest to improve standards, BBK, has been actively pursuing its Business Continuity Management program and enhancing its capabilities” commented by Mr Murad Ali Murad, BBK Chairman on this occasion. He congratulated the management on successfully conducting the Business Continuity exercise on such a large scale and added: “Stemming from our belief in the highest principles, we are committed to ensure continuity of business in any unforeseen event and to fully comply with corporate governance and regulatory requirements.”

BBK has been carrying this exercise involving all the executive management for the last two years. This year BBK Board members also participated in this exercise, assuring that the Board is overseeing all the critical activities, especially as the Board is the ultimate responsible for continuity of services and hence complying to the principles of corporate governance. BBK is one of the first banks in the Kingdom of Bahrain to have its own custom built, dedicated, fully equipped and functional Business Continuity Center. This provides assurance to customers with a continuity of critical banking services and at the same time secures its vital assets in the event of any unexpected events, leading to disruption of normal operations.
Upon the completion of the exercise, Mr. Bucheery commended the entire team that made this exercise a success and expressed his satisfaction by saying: “BBK has been conducting this exercise periodically and  each time  we are stepping ahead in the maturity of managing unforeseen crisis situations. From the safety and security of an individual, to the interest of all stakeholders and finally to meet the regulatory requirements; BBK is fully committed. We worked hard and are proud to be resilient to manage any unforeseen incident”.

In this exercise, which is managed and coordinated by the Bank’s dedicated Business Continuity Management & Governance Team, the Chairman of the Board Mr Murad Ali Murad, some Board members, all the members of the Executive Management along with over 100 employees from various areas of the Bank participated. From the time of the sudden initiation of the crisis situation, to the actual recovery and availability of critical banking services to its customers; the entire process was executed seamlessly within the targeted time frame. During this exercise all critical components of the BCP were tested successfully.