Central bank issues cloud computing guideline for financial sector

The central bank on Thursday issued a guideline on cloud computing for the financial sector to facilitate data-sharing in a secure manner.

The new guideline is expected to help ensure a secure and business-friendly environment for the users and service providers, people familiar with the matter told the FE.

They said that it would also give access to the regulatory body to monitor the cloud computing services.

Usually, the government does not allow cross-border sharing of personal data although the local firms prefer cross-border data sharing.

There are many local cloud service providers in Bangladesh, including an entity located at Kaliakoir that belongs to the government.

Cloud computing is a popular option for people and businesses for a number of reasons like cost savings, increased productivity, speed and efficiency, performance, and security.

In a circular issued in this regard, Bangladesh Bank (BB) stressed the need for complying with the guideline for the sake of keeping all cloud services uninterrupted in the country.

It said they [service takers under the central bank] must comply with the guideline by December 2023.

This guideline is applicable to the banks, non-bank financial institutions, mobile financial service providers, payment system operators and other financial service providers who seek to get relatively easy access to new technologies and also achieve immediate economies of scale.

However, this guideline does not prescribe or recommend any specific cloud computing service, service arrangement, service agreement, service provider, or deployment model.

The service seekers must perform their own analysis to determine if cloud computing meets their strategic aims whilst managing any associated risks and compliance with regulatory requirements.

The objective of issuing the guideline is to ensure proper due diligence while using cloud computing.

It is expected to ensure security and data privacy requirements while ensuring the roles and responsibilities of the relevant parties along with organisational security, privacy, and computing requirements.

It is also expected to ensure a secure environment for data processing as well as awareness of stakeholders' roles and responsibilities for the protection of information. The guideline will ensure business continuity, resilience, and recovery capabilities.

Over recent years, cloud computing has created advantages in scale, resource elasticity, organisational agility, and operational resiliency.

Cloud computing enables banks and other financial institutions to respond rapidly to customer demands for products and experiences.

jasimharoon@yahoo.com