CIBC Mellon Certified by BSI Canada to ISO 22301:2012 Societal Security and Business Continuity Management Systems Standard

CIBC Mellon is one of only two Canadian companies and the only asset servicing provider to have achieved the internationally-recognized business continuity standard

TORONTO, Dec. 17, 2015 /CNW/ - CIBC Mellon today announced the successful completion of a two-year project to achieve certification to the ISO 22301:2012 Societal Security and Business Continuity Management Systems Standard. ISO 22301:2012 specifies requirements to plan, establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain and continually improve a documented management system to protect against, reduce the likelihood of occurrence, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptive incidents when they arise. CIBC Mellon is one of only two Canadian firms to have been certified to the ISO 22301 standard, and is the only Canadian asset servicing provider to have been so certified.

"As a leading Canadian custodian and asset servicing provider, we recognize the importance of our business to our clients and to Canada's capital markets," said Christopher Horne, Assistant Vice President, Business Continuity and Corporate Security, CIBC Mellon. "Our business continuity management efforts are designed to prepare our company and its employees to deliver essential services in unexpected circumstances."

To achieve ISO 22301:2012 certification, CIBC Mellon's business continuity preparations were assessed by external auditors from the British Standards Institution (BSI Group) Canada. CIBC Mellon's business continuity plans are highly flexible, enabling it to respond to different scenarios, and the company can execute all or a portion of its plans depending on the type, severity and impacts of an event. Response planning encompasses preparations for CIBC Mellon's employees, offices, technology and supply chain, with the aims of preserving life safety, quickly organizing CIBC Mellon's response to an incident, maintaining service continuity, and rapidly recovering any impacted services to clients. The ISO 22301 certification applies to the Canadian operations of CIBC Global Securities Services Company and CIBC Mellon Trust Company.

"We are pleased to recognize and certify CIBC Mellon's achievement of the ISO 22301:2012 Societal Security and Business Continuity Management Systems Standard based on our comprehensive review and assessment of the systems, preparations, planning and response capabilities," said Gary Robinson, Commercial Director of BSI Group Canada. "CIBC Mellon's clients and stakeholders should take confidence from the diligence and effectiveness with which the company has undertaken business continuity planning." 

Key features of CIBC Mellon's business continuity program include:

• Enterprise critical communications capabilities: CIBC Mellon leverages the Everbridge critical communications system, empowering the company to initiate two-way mass communication with employees across multiple channels, including email, business and personal phones, text messages and more. We can efficiently provide updates to apprise employees of an issue, provide guidance (for example, to work from an alternate location), or even capture survey responses to confirm employee safety and the impact of events such as weather at their locations.
• Regular exercises: The company regularly tests its plans and preparations, including through all-employee drills, as well as tabletop exercises in which senior management responds to a simulated emergency.
• Detailed documentation: The company's governance and control groups collect detailed documentation outlining the requirements, plans and critical responsibilities of every group at CIBC Mellon.
• Offsite recovery centres and multiple offices: In addition to offices in multiple cities, CIBC Mellon maintains dedicated offsite recovery workspaces, supporting the company's ability to carry out critical tasks, even if primary offices become unavailable for an extended period.  The company also leverages multiply redundant technology and processing capabilities via its parent companies BNY Mellon and CIBC. 

About ISO 22301

ISO 22301 is a management systems standard for business continuity management (BCM) which can be used by organizations of all sizes and types. These organizations will be able to obtain accredited certification against this standard and so demonstrate to legislators, regulators, customers, prospective customers and other interested parties that they are adhering to good practice in BCM. ISO 22301:2012 specifies requirements to plan, establish, implement, operate, monitor, review, maintain and continually improve a documented management system to protect against, reduce the likelihood of occurrence, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptive incidents when they arise. http://www.iso.org/iso/news.htm?refid=Ref1587    

About BSI

BSI (British Standards Institution) is the business standards company that equips businesses with the necessary solutions to turn standards of best practice into habits of excellence. Formed in 1901, BSI was the world's first National Standards Body and a founding member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Over a century later it continues to facilitate business improvement across the globe by helping its clients drive performance, manage risk and grow sustainably through the adoption of international management systems standards, many of which BSI originated. Renowned for its marks of excellence including the consumer recognized BSI Kitemark^™, BSI's influence spans multiple domains including Aerospace, Automotive, Built Environment, Food, Healthcare and IT. With over 80,000 clients in 172 countries, BSI is an organization whose standards inspire excellence across the globe. 

About CIBC Mellon

CIBC Mellon is a Canadian company exclusively focused on the investment servicing needs of Canadian institutional investors and international institutional investors into Canada. Founded in 1996, CIBC Mellon is 50-50 jointly owned by The Bank of New York Mellon (BNY Mellon) and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC). CIBC Mellon's investment servicing solutions for institutions and corporations are provided in close collaboration with our parent companies, and include custody, multicurrency accounting, fund administration, recordkeeping, pension services, securities lending services, foreign exchange settlement and treasury services. As at September 30, 2015, CIBC Mellon had more than C$1.5 trillion of assets under administration on behalf of banks, pension funds, investment funds, corporations, governments, insurance companies, foreign insurance trusts, foundations and global financial institutions whose clients invest in Canada. CIBC Mellon is part of the BNY Mellon network, which as at September 30, 2015 had US$28.5 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration and US$1.6 trillion in assets under management. CIBC Mellon is a licensed user of the CIBC trade-mark and certain BNY Mellon trade-marks, is the corporate brand of CIBC Mellon Global Securities Services Company and CIBC Mellon Trust Company, and may be used as a generic term to refer to either or both companies.  For more information, visit www.cibcmellon.com or follow us on Twitter @CIBCMellon.

SOURCE CIBC Mellon

CIBC Mellon: Brent Merriman, Corporate Communications, 416-643-5065, [email protected]; BSI Group Canada: Tim Lai, Brown & Cohen Communications & Public Affairs, 416-484-1132 ext. 4, [email protected]