BUSINESS CONTINUITY: BEST PRACTICE, 2ND EDITION EXCERPT FROM THE FOREWORD TO THE 2ND EDITION

Roger Ferguson's summary of the key vulnerabilities that regulators and institutions have to face in the aftermath: • First, contingency planning generally did not account for region-wide events. Some firms found they lost both primary and back-up sites. There were significant concerns about the loss of or inaccessibility of staff. • Second, concentrations, both market-based and geographic, were really evident and became a source of vulnerability. • Third, the critical interdependencies across the industry, although understood in the context of planning Year 2000, were never so readily apparent. This was evident in the impact of the problems at key infrastructure providers on wide range of financial institutions. Even institutions far removed from New York City were significantly affected by interdependencies. These factors apply not only to financial institutions that were particularly hit by the tragedy, but also to many other industries that could be impacted by disasters having a similar impact. Key lessons have been painfully learned: • People issues are paramount: staff availability, risk awareness and training are critical