IASA Highlights Importance of Pro-Active Business Continuity Planning

Kuala Lumpur – January 8, 2009: “The current economic climate is an opportune time for the Malaysian financial services industry to take a pro-active approach in reviewing existing back up plans for disaster recovery,” said Aaron Tan Dani, Chairman, International Association of Software Architects (IASA) Asia Pacific. The IASA hosted a media gathering today at the Le Meridien Hotel to provide the media with an overview of the importance of business continuity planning to Malaysia’s financial services sector and to Malaysia’s economy in general. IASA is the premier association focused on the software architecture profession through the advancement of best practices and education while delivering programs and services.

Attending the event as the IASA’s guest of honor was YB Dato’ Kong Cho Ha, Deputy Finance Minister, Malaysia who expressed, “A solid banking and finance framework reflects the country’s agility and stability which are key pre-requisites to attracting foreign and local investments into the country. It is imperative that our financial institutions ensure continued operations during unexpected disruptions.” Malaysia’s Ministry of Finance cross references with thought leadership organizations like IASA to ensure that local business continuity planning guidelines are world-class.

Hasan Ganny Hanif, President, IASA Malaysia said, “The IASA is here to support Malaysia’s financial services industry through education and advocacy. Our members consist of industry leading experts in the area of software architecture and have vast knowledge in business continuity planning. By leveraging on this, our Malaysia FSIs can better prepare against unforeseen operational interruptions.”

Meanwhile, MAAGNET Systems Sdn Bhd CEO Jimmy Yeoh who is also Vice President, Architecture Standard & Guidelines, IASA Malaysia, called upon local FSIs to continue learning and tapping upon ‘Best Practices’ worldwide in Business Continuity Planning to ensure the country’s banking system could withstand any eventuality that may occur.

“Local financial services concerns should have comprehensive business continuity and disaster recovery programmes in place to ensure they rise above any contingency that may occur,” he said, citing the example of how his parent company MAAKL Mutual Berhad had benefited from tapping onto the expertise of global financial services thought-leader Microsoft to make their IT systems unassailable to disruption.