Investment Dealers Association of Canada gives pandemic planning advice

The Investment Dealers Association of Canada (IDA) has published a guidance notice for its members about business continuity planning for pandemics.

The notice ‘reflects the current thinking and the publicly available information concerning a potential pandemic’ and points out that ‘In the end, it is up to the Member to tailor their planning effort to their particular business model and customer needs’.

According to the notice some of the potential implications of a pandemic are:

* While some staff are likely to get sick, others might have to stay away in order to care for their families and dependents.

* A pandemic may impact social behavior with consequent implication for congregations, travel and office gathering.

* Travel restrictions, if imposed, are likely to impact people’s mobility. Public transit will likely suffer.

* Shortages are likely to be experienced. For instance, bandwidth is likely to be at a premium as a result of people working remotely out of their homes or alternate sites.

* Business supplies and infrastructure equipment required for alternate work sites may become scarce as a result of the higher demand.

* Operations requiring physical transfer of documents or certificates will likely be impacted for prolonged periods.

The notice also points out that members ‘might need to modify the business continuity plan solutions established to primarily deal with infrastructure issues.’

IDA By-law 17.16 mandates that IDA members have adequate business continuity plan in place to ‘enable prompt client access to their assets following a significant business disruption’.

Read the notice.

•Date: 7th March 2007 • Region: Canada •Type: Article •Topic: Pandemic planning
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