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The US Treasury Department, the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security, and the Securities Industry and Financial Management Association have released the preliminary results of the finance industry-wide pandemic flu exercise.
"The strong public-private coordination on this exercise allowed us to reach more institutions than we ever expected," said Valerie Abend, Treasury's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Critical Infrastructure Protection. "And by allowing almost all participants to find critical gaps in their planning, this exercise was an unquestionable success in helping the industry prepare for such a crisis."
More than 2,700 organisations registered to participate anonymously in the online financial services industry exercise, which began in September this year and ran for three weeks. While banks made up the majority of participants, insurance companies, securities firms and exchanges and state and federal regulators also took part in the exercise.
The exercise simulated a pandemic wave with a peak absenteeism rate of 49 percent. The exercise examined a number of issues including human resources, continuity of operations, and dependencies on other sectors such as transportation, energy and telecommunications.
The results, published last week, offer a basic first look at the potential impact of a pandemic flu outbreak. More detailed results on the pandemic's impact and the industry's response will be released in the coming months, as data is analysed.
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