US financial sector pandemic response capabilities exercise scheduled

The US financial services industry has begun preparations to test its ability to respond to a pandemic with an exercise to take place in the fall.

The multi-week, sector-wide pandemic exercise is sponsored by the US Treasury Department, in partnership with The Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security (FSSCC) and the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee (FBIIC), and with the Securities Industry and Financial Management Association (SIFMA) playing a key planning and project management role.

This will be the first exercise of this scope in the US.

The exercise is scheduled to begin on September 24, 2007, with the multi-week duration allowing sufficient time to simulate a full pandemic wave. Participants will take part in the exercise from their own locations using e-mail and a secure exercise web site.

Key goals of the exercise include identifying systemic risk to the sector as a whole, provide participants an opportunity to test their individual plans against a realistic scenario and to clarify the ripple effects of a pandemic within the markets and interdependent sectors.

All sub-sectors of financial services are represented in the planning process, and broad participation from throughout the sector is anticipated. The exercise will also involve advisory group representatives from key sectors on which the financial industry depends, such as power and telecommunications, as well as critical agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The exercise will be comparable to the pandemic exercise conducted in the autumn of 2006 in the UK.

•Date: 29th May 2007 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC testing and exercising
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