CAIRO: At the Business Continuity Management Awards in London, Barclays Egypt was recognized as the most effective bank during the country's revolution with the “Most Effective Recovery of the Year” award. “This award is a tribute to the professionalism of our colleagues in Barclays Egypt,” said Khalid El Gibaly, Chief Executive Officer of Barclays Egypt in a statement. The commendation was a result of Barclays keen management and leadership skills despite the violence and political turmoil of Egypt's revolution. During the 18 days of pro-democracy protests, from Jan. 25 to Feb. 11, the country's business and banks were at a standstill after the police withdrew from the streets, giving way to looting and acts of vandalism. The country's banks eventually opened again in full on Feb. 20 and have resumed business since. Although during the unrest, the Central Bank of Egypt declared a series of non-working days for banks, which were between Jan. 30 and Feb. 6, Barclays Egypt Crisis Leadership Team resorted to “comprehensive” business continuity plans. “In the midst of an unprecedented crisis our people persevered, maintaining a clear focus on serving our customers and keeping our operations running,” said El Gibaly. The bank moved all critical operations to locations away from the heart of the city to escape violence. Business travel to Egypt related to the bank was suspended and may expatriate employees were flown out of the country with their families. However, ATM networks and the bank's call center remained as the only means of communication with the customers. Acts of vandalism, which damaged telecom equipment in Cairo, eventually caused the bank's contact center to break down. However, Barclays was able to restore the communication center within 50 hours, making the bank one of the first in the nation to resume operations. During the working hours — reduced to four due to a strict nation-wide curfew imposed at the time — contact center teams took an average of 3,000 calls from customers, which Barclays says is equivalent to a full day's worth of calls. “This award recognizes the tremendous response of our colleagues in Egypt to an extraordinary sequence of events,” said Dermot McCarthy, GRB Business Continuity Management. “The ability to react to the fast-changing situation proved the value of having a documented and tested program in place.”
