| Steady as she goes… The UK Financial Services Authority says that it is to maintain its non-prescriptive approach to business continuity arrangements by financial firms. The UK Financial Services Authority has published a policy statement on business continuity management, which is the result of feedback on its 'Operational risk systems and controls' consultation paper (no. 142). This was issued in July 2002 with the consultation period closing on 31st October. Responses were received from 50 different companies, organisations and individuals and helped FSA reach the conclusion that the consultation paper needs no significant changes. The FSA says that: ‘The majority of respondents confirmed that the stated policy was appropriate in terms of the areas covered and the level of detail.’ This means that the FSA will continue with its current non-prescriptive approach to business continuity arrangements by financial firms and that the guidelines contained in ‘Operational risk systems and controls’ will become FSA policy. Clive Briault, director of Prudential Standards at the FSA, said: "Interest in our proposals on systems and controls for managing operational risks has been high and we are grateful for the responses we received to Consultation Paper 142 from firms, trade associations, consultants and other organisations. The majority of these have confirmed that our overall approach is appropriate with regard to operational risk which covers areas such as business continuity, management of employees, information security, outsourcing and the use of insurance to finance operational risk. And we will later this year issue the final Handbook draft of our operational risk systems and control policy - along with our new policies on systems and controls for other types of risk." "In particular, we are pleased that responses to Consultation Paper 142 showed strong agreement that our guidance on business continuity covers the right areas and to the correct level of detail. We will therefore keep to our existing approach and not offer further guidance which would prove too prescriptive for most firms. We will apply our guidance in a proportionate way. Our policy on business continuity is designed to be flexible and to be interpreted in accordance with the nature, scale and complexity of a firm's activities."
•Date:
25th March 2003 •Region: UK •Type:
Article •Topic: Op.risk |
