TAJ Bank Limited, a non-interest banking products and services provider, has received the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) certification for its information security standards, being the first of CBN-licensed banks since 2015 to be so certified.
The bank is said to have secured services to millions of its growing customers since it commenced operations just over two years ago, a statement from TAJBank on Sunday noted.
The PCI DSS is created by major card scheme operators like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, and JCB, with a set of requirements which organisations and card issuers must meet.
The bank’s management maintained that the certification validated the non-interest lender’s protection of customers’ card data and it reduces the risk of a data breach.
Commenting on the global recognition of the bank’s secured services system, the bank’s Managing Director/CEO, Mr Hamid Joda, said: “This is another huge milestone by TAJBank to have secured the PCI DSS certificate.
“With the PCI DSS certification, this clearly confirms TAJBank’s card operational security efficiency in the banking industry and also ensures improved level of protection of payment card users by ensuring banks that store, process, and transmit payment card data do so in line with best practices of security requirements,” he noted.
On the importance of PCI DSS certification to any bank, experts in the industry believe that the globally recognised certification is a validation of a bank’s compliance to Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s requirements for adequate controls around cardholders’ data and reduction of card fraud.
The bank also held that the certification establishes that it has efficient processes in the detection and prevention of both physical and network-based attacks.
