History will be made in Nigeria's corporate world today at Eko Hotel & Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos as Nigeria's premier bank, First Bank of Nigeria Plc, receives the prestigious ISO/IEC 27001:2005 Infor-mation Security Management Systems (ISMS) from the British Standard Institute (BSI), a leading organization in the field of auditing management systems and processes.

The certification is the world's highest accreditation for information protection and security from the International Organi-sation for Standardization (ISO). This feat, the first of its kind in corporate Nigeria, places the bank at par with leading international and multi-lateral corporate organizations including the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in the area of security and protection of customers' information.

FirstBank's Group Manag-ing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Bisi Onasanya, said the certification is an affirmation that the bank has adopted and complied with the highest known management standards in information security in the world.

"It is a process that involved auditing and verification of the Bank's Information Security Management System (ISMS) practices by the British Standard Institute (BSI), a leading organization in the field of auditing management systems and processes. The certification is a clear indication of the strength of our investments in people, process and technology for enhancing the customer experience by improving information security" he said.

The process of certification, anchored by Global Infoswift, a leading Nigerian IT service provider with a robust track record started in October last year. It involved meticulous planning and superior project implementation from highly skilled FirstBank staff.

Given the importance attached to the project by the management of the bank, the bank's Chief Risk Officer, Mrs. Remi Odunlami, was appointed the Project Sponsor.

ISO 27001 is the only auditable international standard which defines the requirements to ensure that sufficient security controls are instituted within the certified organization.

Additionally, maintaining the ISO 27001 Certification requires an annual review and three-year re-certification in the continual scrutiny of FirstBank's information security management system in a manner that aims to provide confidence to the stakeholders and the general public as a whole that the bank's data is protected on an ongoing basis.

The certification is in sync with the ongoing transformation in the bank. It is aimed at improving the bank's systems and process with a view to outperforming competition, sustain its leadership position and meet the changing demands of different generations of customers.

With presence in London, Paris, Johannesburg and Beijing, FirstBank is Nigeria's most diversified financial services group and the most profitable. The bank recorded a six-month profit before tax of N31.7 billion and profit after tax of N25.3 billion during the six-month ended June 2010.