[OR] [AmB] [E1] [C2] Understanding Your Organisation: AmBank

Operational Resilience Framework: A Case Study of AmBank Malaysia

Chapter 2

Understanding Your Organisation: AmBank Malaysia

Operational resilience is the ability of an organisation to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disruptions while maintaining the delivery of critical services.

To build resilience, financial institutions must deeply understand their internal structure, operational dependencies, and external environment.

This chapter explores AmBank Malaysia’s organisational landscape in the context of ISO 22316 (Organizational Resilience) and Bank Negara Malaysia’s (BNM) regulatory requirements, providing a foundation for implementing a robust operational resilience framework.  BCM Institute will also share its interactions with professionals implementing OR in Europe and North America.

Overview of AmBank Malaysia

AmBank Malaysia is one of the country's leading financial institutions. It offers various banking and financial services, including retail banking, business banking, investment banking, and insurance.

With a strong presence in Malaysia’s financial sector, AmBank operates within a regulated environment overseen by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) and must comply with stringent operational resilience and risk management standards.

Key Organisational Elements for Operational Resilience

Governance and Leadership

A strong governance framework is critical for AmBank’s operational resilience. The bank’s leadership plays a central role in setting risk appetite, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, and fostering a resilience-focused culture.

Key elements of governance include:

• Board of Directors: Responsible for oversight and strategic direction.
• Risk Management Committee: This committee ensures compliance with BNM’s Risk Management in Technology (RMiT) and Operational Risk Management (ORM) guidelines.
• Operational Resilience Team: Coordinates resilience initiatives across different business units.

Business Functions and Critical Business Services

AmBank must identify its critical business services and the interdependencies that support them to ensure business continuity. The following are some of the key operational areas:

• Retail and Commercial Banking: Core banking services for individual and corporate customers.
• Investment Banking and Treasury: Managing market risk, liquidity, and financial instruments.
• Payment and Settlement Systems: Ensuring uninterrupted financial transactions.
• Digital Banking and IT Infrastructure: Supporting online and mobile banking services.

Understanding these functions allows AmBank to prioritize resilience strategies for services that impact financial stability and customer trust.

Regulatory and Compliance Landscape

AmBank must comply with BNM’s operational resilience guidelines, including:

• BNM’s Operational Risk Guidelines: Establish a risk management framework for identifying, assessing, and mitigating operational risks.
• BNM’s RMiT Framework: Focuses on technology risk management, including cybersecurity, data protection, and IT service continuity.
• ISO 22316:2017 (Organisational Resilience): Provides best practices for fostering adaptability and long-term sustainability.

Compliance with these frameworks ensures that AmBank maintains high resilience standards in alignment with regulatory expectations.

Stakeholders and External Dependencies

Operational resilience extends beyond internal processes to include external stakeholders such as:

• Regulatory Authorities: BNM and other financial oversight bodies.
• Customers and Clients: Businesses and individuals relying on AmBank’s services.
• Third-Party Vendors: Providers of IT systems, cloud services, and outsourced functions.
• Financial Market Infrastructures: Payment networks, clearinghouses, and interbank systems.

AmBank must assess the resilience of these external entities to mitigate risks from supply chain disruptions and cyber threats.

Summing Up … 

Understanding AmBank Malaysia's organisational structure, regulatory environment, and operational dependencies is fundamental to building a resilient financial institution.

By aligning with ISO 22316 and BNM’s operational resilience frameworks, AmBank strengthens its ability to withstand disruptions, protect stakeholders, and maintain economic stability.

The following sections will explore implementing specific resilience strategies, including business continuity planning, technology resilience, and crisis management frameworks.

More Information About Blended Learning OR-5000 [OR-5] or OR-300 [OR-3]

To learn more about the course and schedule, click the buttons below for the OR-3 Blended Learning OR-300 Operational Resilience Implementer course and the OR-5 Blended Learning OR-5000 Operational Resilience Expert Implementer course.