By  Babajide Komolafe

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has set a deadline of 2018 for banks to implement the Information Technology (IT) standards developed for the banking industry.
The release of the standards was announced via circular titled, Circular to banks on release of information technology (I.T) standards to the industry, and signed by Mr. John Ayoh, Director, Information Technology Department.

The CBN said, “Pursuant to the need to identify and adopt global IT Standards which would provide guidelines for and serve as reference points in ensuring the quality of IT service delivery in the Nigerian Banking Industry, through the IT Infrastructure Transformation programme sponsored by the Bankers’ Committee in 2010, the Blueprints for the IT Standards and the Governance framework has been defined and now, by this circular, released to the industry for adoption by all banks.

It is available on the CBN website pending the completion and launching of the Bankers’ Committee IT Standards portal where it will be hosted permanently, and can be accessed by opening the “IT Standards Blueprint” link under  the “Quick links” found at the left hand side of the CBN website home page

“A five-year implementation roadmap for the IT Standards has been defined within which banks are expected to implement in accordance with the set timelines and the defined priorities. Implementation shall be in a continuum approach such that initial implementations would target maturity level 3 and subsequently improved to include certifications and higher maturity levels.

“The IT Standards Council, to be reconstituted after every two years, has been put in place to drive the adoption, implementation and compliance to the IT Standards in the Banking Industry. The compliance audits shall begin at the end of the prescribed adoption periods as indicated on the implementation roadmap. Baseline assessment for priority 1 standards shall be carried out in ban in quarter 1 of 2014. “

According to the apex bank,  “IT standards for Nigeria’s Financial Services Industry is focused on 7 key technology capabilities areas which are required for world class IT operations as follows: Strategic IT Alignment; IT Governance; Architecture & Information Management; Solutions Delivery; Service Management & Operations; Information & Technology Security; Workforce & Resource Management.

“The implementation of these standards is expected to provide the following benefits: Increased up-time/availability of banks leading to increased cost savings; establishment of a reference point for objective assessment of the IT function leading to improved IT performance measurement and improved data integrity and electronic information exchange.