The credit crisis is, without doubt, the biggest test of business continuity and disaster recovery planning that financial institutions have faced in living memory. A severe loss of confidence has frozen many financial markets, dried up liquidity and raised serious questions about the risk management strategies that have become accepted as the norm. Could this have been anticipated? Should it have been factored into the business continuity plans of market participants? The answer to these questions is probably not, but what is certain is that the lessons learnt from the current crisis will have to be integrated into business continuity plans in the future.
Notwithstanding the current market conditions and the special challenges they bring, the normal business continuity challenges remain. Indeed, in the introduction to the Resilience Benchmarking Project: June 2008, Callum McCarthy, then Chairman, Financial Services Authority wrote "The sharp deterioration in the global financial environment since last summer also helps explain why senior management's focus may be elsewhere. Nevertheless, it is important that senior management ensure their organisations develop appropriate plans to deal with the consequences of a major operational disruption such as terrorist attack or pandemic, both of which continue to be assessed as significant risks." Additionally, the recent shutdown which afflicted the London Stock Exchange during peak trading hours shows how vulnerable key IT systems can be.
This conference, now in its eighth year, is the premier forum for discussion of all business continuity and disaster recovery concerns of the financial services sector and, once again, it features a cutting-edge programme.
The conference should be attended by business continuity managers in all FSA regulated financial institutions.
Keynote Address
Roger Cumming, Deputy Director, Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure
Conference Chairmen
Tim Armit, Managing Director, Clifton Risk Management
Rick Cudworth, UK EMEA Head of Business Continuity and Resilience Services, Deloitte
John Milne, Sector Manager for Financial Stability, Financial Services Authority
Regulatory Speakers
Stephen Collins, Head of the Business Continuity Division, Bank of England
David Strachan, Director, Financial Stability, Financial Services Authority
Financial Industry Speakers
Valerie Abend, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Critical Infrastructure Protection, US Treasury
Alex Merriman, Executive Director, Wholesale and Regulation, British Bankers' Association
Harry Newman, Head of Banks and Payments Market Infrastructures, SWIFT
John Trundle, Managing Director and Head of Risk Management, Euroclear
Kathryn Wakeman, Global Head of Resiliency Risk Management & Head of IT Risk Management EMEA, JP Morgan
Andrew Wallace, Head of Payments Integrity, The Payments Council, and Head of Cash, APACS
Nigel Wilkins, Head of Business Continuity, LV=
Infrastructure Speakers
Andrew Croston, Head of Corporate Procurement, Olympic Delivery Authority
Richard Stephenson, Director, Group Health, Safety and Environment (HSE), Transport for London
Andrew Trotter, OBE, QPM, Deputy Chief Constable, British Transport Police
Business Continuity and Supplier Speakers
Pauline Cornwell, Development Manager, Business Continuity Institure
James Foley, Vice-President, BT Smartnumbers
Linda Hall, Business Continuity Management, Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Banking
Charlotte Hume, Communications Consultant, Crisis Solutions Ltd
Tim Humphreys, Policy Adviser, Association of British Insurers
Steve Mellish, FBCI, Head of Business Continuity, Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd
Rosie Murray, Consultant, Awareness for Trauma
Andy Tomkinson, MBCI, Partner, Adtapt