Operational resilience has been identified as one the 5 key cross-sector pieces of work in the 2020/21 Business plan by the FCA. The importance of the work is perhaps emphasised by the fact that it is being co-ordinated across the FCA, PRA and Bank of England. In their Business Plan, the FCA say that their “aim is to set new requirements that strengthen operational resilience.”
Firms can be in no doubt that the regulators will be looking at implementing new requirements that take operational resilience planning beyond the traditional Business Continuity Plan and Risk Management approach, impacting almost all aspects of the way a business prepares itself for disruption to its services to customers.
In our view, it is very likely that the regulators will be looking at the way firms have responded – and been able to respond – to the Covid-19 pandemic to help inform its thinking around the issues and any changes it seeks to implement. Whilst the review may only be at ‘consultation paper’ stage, firms are advised to begin their preparations now to ensure they are well placed to respond to this work because the regulators are intending to impose short timeframes for having their response embedded.
To assist firms, ICSR will be running a series of webinars, led by Director Kenneth Underhill, and featuring a number of individuals from across the Talent Pool with particular areas of expertise that touch on this work. The first event will be an Introduction from Kenneth Underhill, on Thursday 4th June at 11am, lasting for approximately 1 hour.
All webinars will be recorded and available afterwards to view on the ICSR website.
