Gulf Bank Successfully Meets Highest Global Security Standards in the Payment Card Industry

Gulf Bank Successfully Meets Highest Global Security Standards in the Payment Card Industry

Kuwait, 30 January 2012: Gulf Bank announced today that it has successfully achieved Payment Card Industry (PCI) - Data Security Standards (DSS) compliance for the secure management of its card holder information and the prevention of credit card fraud.  The compliance was completed on schedule, at the end of 2011. The certification was achieved after an extensive independent audit of Gulf Bank Systems, operations and processes conducted by SISA Information Security, a qualified security assessor from PCI Security Standards Council.

The Bank cleared six distinct security pillars in order to achieve PCI - DSS compliance, namely,   building and maintaining a secure network, protecting cardholder data, maintaining a vulnerability management program, implementing strong security measures, assessing networks frequently, and maintaining an information security policy.

PCI - DSS offer a broad variety of advantages for financial organizations such as Gulf Bank, helping avoid security breaches and theft of card payment data while constantly monitoring threats and improving the means of dealing with them. The standards are endorsed by all the major global payment brands, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover Financial Services and JCB International.

The Bank's accomplishment reinforces its commitment to internationally recognized security standards that enhance the protection of customers' payment card information.   Gulf Bank's attainment of PCI - DSS compliance is in line with the Bank's key strategic objective, of fortifying the Bank's Infrastructure.

Husain Mairza, Chief Information Officer at Gulf Bank said: "Our latest achievement of PCI - DSS compliance emphasizes the Bank's overall strategy to protect its customers' card information and enhance their payment methods generally. We are proud to have achieved the coveted certification on schedule, which adds to our 2011 accomplishments."

Sudhir Mundkur, Deputy General Manager - Information System Security and Quality Assurance at Gulf Bank said: "Information Systems Security is a journey of continuous improvement involving people, processes and technology working together in concert. Achievement of the PCI - DSS compliance represents a very big and important step forward on this journey and underscores Gulf Bank's commitment to the goal of providing a secure computing environment to serve our customers.  I sincerely thank the entire team of Gulf Bank employees as well as consultants from our technology and security partners who have worked extremely hard to make this achievement a reality."

Husain Mairza, Chief Information

Officer at Gulf Bank