Banks’ IT teams have no security expert

This has been stated by a review report on the banking activities in 2015, which was presented at the annual banking conference held at BIBM auditorium in Dhaka yesterday. A two-day long conference was inaugurated by Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir and the conference will come to an end today. Director General of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) Toufic Ahmad Choudhury presented the report at the inaugural ceremony. The report said: “Recruitment of ethical hacker, placing a proper IT security and monitoring system are the crying need of the hour. But, surprisingly 15% of the banks have no security expert in the IT teams.” The report observed over the years that online banking frauds have been increasing due to the lacking of proper knowledge regarding banking information security. The report also found that data center of all the banks are built in Dhaka. However, 58% data centers have been established in high rise buildings having risk of earthquake and fire. According to the report, in terms of ICT infrastructures still 12% of banks did not meet the regulatory requirement. Since demand of foreign currency loan is still high in the private sector, Bangladesh Bank may initiate a programme to allow funding from its surplus foreign exchange liquidity under simple terms and conditions, the report suggested.