[ISN] Financial services firms face flu pandemic -- on paper

From: InfoSec News (alerts@private)
Date: Wed Aug 29 2007 - 23:19:26 PDT


http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9033378

By Patrick Thibodeau
August 28, 2007 
Computerworld

What may be the largest pandemic planning exercise ever conducted in the 
U.S. is set to begin next month. The dry run will force financial 
services firms to operate with shrinking numbers of employees -- on 
paper, at least.

More than 1,800 organizations have signed up to participate in the 
three-week simulation, which is being sponsored by the U.S. Department 
of the Treasury and the Securities Industry and Financial Markets 
Association.

The exercise will also cover telecommunications issues. But it won't 
cause any service disruptions, such as long lines at ATMs or problems 
reaching online banking sites. Instead, participants will gather in 
conference rooms and assess how their businesses would be affected if a 
bird flu outbreak or other pandemic resulted in major reductions in the 
number of available employees.

Jim Binder, a spokesman for The Operations Clearing Corp., said the 
Chicago-based provider of derivatives clearing and settlement services 
will have 30 to 40 workers involved in the planning exercise. The full 
details of how the simulation will unfold are being kept secret until it 
starts Sept. 24, Binder said.

But, he added, the program will follow a compressed time frame that 
simulates the impact of a 12-week pandemic wave. Participants will be 
given information on how many absentee employees they can expect. 
Companies won't know exactly how hard they will be hit with sick calls 
from employees until this data is made available, Binder said.

In addition, participating companies won't be able to pick and choose 
the level of workforce reductions they get hit by. Binder said some 
effort will be made to randomize the process, possibly by forcing 
companies to function without employees whose last names begin with 
certain letters.

The test is based on a similar exercise conducted last fall in the U.K. 
by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), an independent body that 
regulates the financial services industry there. The U.K. simulation 
used employee absenteeism levels that began at 15% at the onset of the 
pandemic and then reached as high as 60% in some business units.

In a report (download PDF [1]), the FSA said the exercise showed that 
some banks would be forced to close branches and reduce banking 
services, including ATMs. According to the FSA, the test also raised 
questions about whether the U.K.'s telecommunications infrastructure 
would be able to support large-scale teleworking for a prolonged period 
as staff shortages eroded the maintenance capabilities of service 
providers.

Telecommunications vendors will participate in the U.S. exercise, Binder 
said. The simulation will be jointly conducted by the Financial Banking 
Information Infrastructure Committee, which is chartered by the White 
House to improve coordination among financial regulators, and the 
Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council, a Chicago-based 
association of major financial services firms and trade groups.

[1] http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pubs/other/mwe2006.pdf


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