Continued Improvement and Resilience – The Path to Banking Success and a Strong Reputation

Dedication to strong governance and a philosophy of community support have stood Afghanistan International Bank (AIB) in good stead – and resulted in recognition in the form of awards.

Since 2004 AIB has been proudly providing essential financial services to Afghanistan, and has always committed to matching or exceeding international standards for governance and practice.

In a region where normal operations can be challenging, that focus on governance is vitally important for AIB and for the country’seconomy, with the bank committed to a mission of fostering growth and catalysing recovery and prosperity.

2023 marks ten consecutive years of AIB being awarded CFI.co’s Best Corporate Governance (Afghanistan) award, translating to a decade of strong performance and a win for every year the award has been contested.

AIB’s reputation for compliance and a strong governance culture has enabled it to maintain its external business relationships and clientele, meaning it remains a channel for processing payments for crucial imports and transfers of humanitarian aid which make a positive impact on the country. AIB remainsthe only domestic bank with US dollar clearing through a recognised international bank.

Its focus on risk-management, money-laundering awareness, cybersecurity, financial crime compliance measures and Know-your-Customer (KYC) practices has made AIB an outstanding operation in the region.

In 2023, following previous advancements, risk and control culture across the Bank was further strengthened. AIB’s Compliance Department extended its Financial Crime Compliance Management System (FCCM) to cover transaction monitoring and know-your-customer practices, a significant achievement placing AIB at the forefront of compliance practices in Afghanistan.

Investment in technology was crucial to that success. AIB’s banking system is hosted on Oracle FLEXCUBE 14.5, making it one of the few banks — even in developed nations — to use the latest incarnation of the advanced software. And in the period, a new Regulatory Compliance Unit was introduced to stay at the forefront of domestic and international obligations.

On the cybersecurity front, AIB is the only bank in Afghanistan with two key certifications for cybersecurity: ISO 27001 and the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI) issued by the PCI Security Standards Council.

Cybersecurity systems were subject to multiple regular audits by multiple parties alongside these external tests: cybersecurity was audited by, external auditors approved by the central bank, and internally by AIB. Ultimately, AIB kept over 99% uptime of systems, and saw no downtime due to attacks.

AIB’s Learning Management System (LMS) continued to expand, allowing all employees to access training on practices and governance from anywhere. 80% of AIB’s employee training has been moved to the LMS, and it remains a major upgrade to how AIB provides training.

Reviews from auditors including Deloitte & Touche Financial Advisory Services Singapore offices and Mazars ensured both a domestic and international perspective on AIB’s compliance to guarantee excellence.

Overall, improvements in the year continue to ensure AIB is the bank with the strongest practices and compliance measures in Afghanistan, allowing AIB to serve Afghanistan while being involved with financial activity globally.

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