KARACHI: Ashraf Mahmood Wathra, Governor of the State Bank said that in the fast changing, highly vulnerable environment of today, emergency preparedness as well as comprehensive arrangements for Business Continuity Planning are essential for the corporate world to ensure the operational sustainability of institutions. “We take pride that State Bank has come a long way towards the development of the Business Continuity field in order to deal with the full spectrum of threats,” he remarked. He was speaking as chief guest at the inaugural session of “Safety and Security Week-2017” being organized at SBP and SBPBSC, Karachi from Feb 20th-24th wherein a number of exercises, training and information sessions will be conducted by field experts to educate SBP and SBPBSC employees on necessary safety and security procedures. Highlighting the importance of safety and security, the Governor said that a safe and secure workplace environment plays a vital role in ensuring the smooth operation of an institution. “SBP has started to build its capacity to effectively deal with any adverse situation and resume operations without any major interruption.” he remarked. Further adding that the bank has also fulfilled its regulatory responsibility and issued guidelines for all banks to strengthen the overall resilience of the financial sector. State Bank had also invited speakers representing Citizens Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), and Sindh & Pakistan Red Crescent Society. Ozair, representing CPLC, stated that his organization is working to eradicate crimes by bridging the gap between citizens and law enforcement agencies. Dr. Rizwana Wasif of Red Crescent demonstrated how to provide first aid in an emergency and Syed Salman Shah representing PDMA spoke on the roles and responsibilities of PDMA in the province of Sindh. Qasim Nawaz, Managing Director of SBP-Banking Services Corporation, in his welcome note stated in view of the emerging safety and security concern, that we should not ignore the importance of safety and security in our daily lives, particularly at the workplace. Other speakers from the State Bank were Commodore (R) Kamran Khan, Director Internal Bank Security, and Asif Mahmood, Director of Strategic Planning. Khan in his presentation gave an overview of the current security environment in Pakistan and explained salient features of the safety and security policy implemented in SBP and its offices across the country. Mahmood shared the details of SBP’s business continuity planning and major initiatives taken to further enhance the level of preparedness.