Digital transformation is not an ‘out of box’ concept – and like with all of the industries it aims to transform, is everchanging. Recognising is, earlier this year, the central bank of Jordan, with an aim of regulating digital transformation in the Cloud for companies within the local financial market, issued Cloud Computing Guidelines. Demonstrating alignment with this, particularly in terms of its solutions, Microsoft hosted an event in the region that was focused on the Financial Services Industry of Jordan.
These cloud banking guidelines aim to provide recommendations around cloud computing, outsourcing and data security. Furthermore, they are also intended to provide advice for a variety of institutions including banks, Islamic banks, financial institutions, exchange companies, credit information companies and microfinance companies.
“Microsoft is one of the main enablers and partners that support the Central Bank of Jordan and the local financial community in achieving our strategic goals and objectives whether in digital transformation, cybersecurity or governance”, said His Excellency Dr. Maher “Shiekh Hasan” the Deputy Governor at Central bank of Jordan.”
Microsofts’ solutions that are tailored specifically for the financial services industry are compliant with the guidelines, and a focus on regulatory compliance has always been at the core of the organisations cloud solutions, such as Azure. “We are excited about what these guidelines mean for financial institutions within Jordan – we look forward to the fact that we will be able to assist our banking customers to be in line with the Guidelines,” said Hussein Malhas, Microsoft Country Manager for Jordan.
Through Microsoft’s contractual commitments, including the industry-specific Financial Services Contract Amendmentthe organisation can assist companies that will be impacted by these guidelines in meeting their compliance obligations. “By addressing complex areas such as banking audit requirements or vulnerability and penetration testing, we are able to support organisations through standardising these tasks as part of operational cloud services,” continued Malhas.
“And it is no secret that the financial services industry, particularly in the region has seen tremendous growth and innovation due to the enabler that is digital transformation. Microsoft hopes that through events such as these, that it will be able to not only drive cloud penetration in the region within the financial services space, but that financial institutions will be encouraged to migrate to the cloud with Microsoft as their Cloud Services Provider considering our persistent commitment to security, transparency and compliance on the Cloud,” concluded Malhas.
