Opportunity International Savings and Loans Ltd. (OISL) has obtained the internationally recognized PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) Certification. In January this year, OISL also obtained the ISO27001 certification.

Commenting on this achievement, Mr. Benjamin Kusi, the Board Cyber and IT Committee Chairman expressed his delight for this great milestone and indicated that this is a clear confirmation and commitment of OISL to protect and provide a safe and secure environment for its customers to undertake their card transactions.

The CEO of OISL Mr. Kwame Owusu-Boateng also said these certifications (i.e., the PCI DSS and ISO27001) attainments are also in compliance with the Bank of Ghana’s directive on Cyber Security and Electronic Payment channels. This emphasizes OISL’s commitment to adopting global best practices and standards in ensuring the integrity of its customer information and a secure banking operating environment.”

According to the Chief Risk Officer and Director of Cyber Security of OISL, Dr. Francis Takyi, ‘PCI DSS is an information security standard designed to prevent or reduce payment card fraud by increasing security controls around cardholder data.

It is a comprehensive set of security standards developed by the PCI Security Standard Council to safeguard debit, credit, prepaid, and cash card transactions, and to prevent the misuse of cardholder data. Payment security is vital for every organisation that stores, processes or transmits cardholder data.

According to Mr. Eric Amoako, the Chief Information Security Officer of OISL, these certifications amongst other things provide the following benefits to OISL and its stakeholders:

• Improves OISL’s information security position, and also helps to minimize our exposure to risks as we implement the necessary controls in our procedures, processes, and systems to safeguard the privacy of customer data by protecting its confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

• Assures our customers that OISL has put in place best practices to control and mitigate risks.

• Enhance customer experience with OISL’s products and services.

PCI DSS compliance is required by all card brands. It is the global standard that any organization of any size must adhere to in order to accept payment cards, and to store, process, and/or transmit cardholder data. PCI DSS compliance is adherence to the set of policies and procedures developed to protect credit, debit, and cash card transactions and to prevent the misuse of cardholders’ personal information.

OISL was presented with an Attestation of Compliance (AoC) by the global certification company, Kyte Consultants Ltd (Independent auditors) on 8th May 2024 at its head office, after a thorough audit and compliance validation were performed by the independent auditors.

Kyte Consultants Ltd (with its headquarters based in Malta) is accredited by the major card brands, through the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council (PCI SSC), as a Qualified Security Assessor Company.

OISL employed the services of Innovare Ghana Ltd (an award-winning Professional Services and Management Consulting Group based in Accra, Ghana) in guiding it through the certification process.

Opportunity International Savings and Loans Ltd. is one of the leading Financial Institutions in the country and currently has thirty- eight (38) branches in ten (10) out of the sixteen (16) regions of Ghana serving over 660,000 clients across the country. It is a subsidiary of Opportunity International, a global organization with its Head Office in Chicago, USA.

The Institution delivers services and programs to clients in thirty (30) countries across the globe, serving over twenty (20) million customers with Micro Banking, Micro Insurance, Agriculture, Education Finance, and Innovative Non-Financial Services.