Central Depository Company (CDC) has become Pakistan’s first and only organisation to be certified with the ISO22301 international standard for its Business Continuity Management programme. This certification has been awarded by SGS Pakistan and accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service after series of comprehensive audits.
The ISO 22301 is the international standard for business continuity management and builds upon the success of British Standard BS 25999 and other regional standards. It is important to highlight that in 2012, CDC was also the first and till date, the only organisation in Pakistan to obtain BS 25999.
This accreditation is a global endorsement of CDC’s readiness to handle a variety of natural and man-made disaster situations in a well-structured manner. The ISO 22301 management system facilitates organisations to identify threats relevant to their business and the critical business functions they could impact. It allows organisations to put plans in place ahead of time to ensure their business doesn’t come to a standstill.
Supported by a resilient IT infrastructure, disaster recovery and business continuity arrangements, CDC can respond to a number of business disruptions by resuming critical functions in the shortest possible time span. CDC conducts regular business continuity drills involving users and partner organisations to assess its crisis management capabilities. The motivation and efforts involved in achieving this global standard highlight CDC’s best practices approach for the investors’ protection and the benefit of the overall capital market.