The FCA has placed greater emphasis on Operational Resilience over the past few years to ensure firms can withstand disruption and absorb shocks while still delivering key services.
The regulator published a consultation paper on building Operational Resilience – CP19/32 – in December 2019. And, after multiple consultations, the final rules eventually came into effect on 31 March, 2022.
Firms must be able to operate within their impact tolerances by 31 March, 2025.
While the FCA’s focus began before the pandemic, the COVID-19 crisis exposed how fundamental it is for financial services firms to be operationally resilient during periods of uncertainty.
The pandemic tested firms’ ability to access data in real-time and accurately report during periods of uncertainty, as key members of staff worked from home.
But what is Operational Resilience – and what is expected of firms?
The FCA defines Operational Resilience as the “ability of firms, financial market infrastructures and the financial sector as a whole to prevent, adapt and respond to, recover and learn from operational disruption.”
It expects organisations to have robust operational business continuity plans in place. This includes having a comprehensive understanding and mapping of the people, process, technology, facilities and information necessary to deliver each of its key services.
To help your firm navigate this new area of regulation, the experts at AutoRek have teamed up with OSS Consult, specialists in governance, risk, compliance and prudential regulation. In our joint whitepaper, you’ll learn more about how financial services firms can comply with Operational Resilience. This includes:
- The four major industry trends firms must know about
- The impact of COVID-19 on Operational Resilience
- Key updates to Operational Resilience
- Common challenges firms are facing – and steps they can take to overcome them
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