Exercise tests UK finance industry
Mariola Smallman, Principal Emergency Planning Officer, blogs about a Market Wide Exercise (MWE) undertaken by the Financial Services Authority, HM Treasury and the Bank of England (collectively known as The Tripartite). The exercise was based around a severe weather scenario and highlighted the importance of business continuity planning for both the public and private sectors.
The full report is available at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/mwe2009.pdf
The exercise scenario involved major flooding across UK regions, both in major cities and rural areas. The exercise involved 76 organisations and 5,000 participants and took place over two half days. The exercise planners contacted many organisations as part of their preparations and Birmingham Resilience Team provided information about Birmingham’s flood risks based on real locations and our experiences.
The report identifies the following next steps:
- The Tripartite Authorities will review how they engage with the financial sector during incidents, including use of the Financial Sector Continuity website. The role of the Tripartite Incident Response Framework will be clarified, including activation triggers and associated procedures.
- The Association of British Insurers is considering introducing market-wide agreements between general insurers with regard to automatic extension of cover.
- The Building Societies Association is considering forming a specialist Business Continuity Contingency Panel as an information and advice forum for individual societies.
- Recovery site providers involved in the exercise will examine current wording to clarify that the onus is on the customer to get the staff to the recovery site. Similarly customers are not to expect the offer of a secondary site due to difficulties with the journey to the recovery site.
- The Tripartite Authorities will examine ways of encouraging and assisting exercises specific to certain sectors and/or infrastructure providers.
These steps are welcomed by Birmingham Resilience Team. In addition to our advice and information about business continuity planning, visit our events pages to find out about exercises that we are holding for businesses in Birmingham.
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