Securities regulators are planning to hold the next industry wide disaster planning test in October 2013.
The Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) issued a notice Monday indicating that it has scheduled the next industry-wide test of business continuity plans (BCPs) for October 5, 2013; when it plans to test a scenario involving the inaccessibility of data centers where business transactions are processed.
IIROC says that it is working to ensure the participation of all of the major service providers, including Alpha, Belzberg, Bourse de Montreal, Broadridge BPS, Broadridge Dataphile, CDCC, CDS, CanDeal, Cannex, Chi-x Canada ATS Ltd., CNSX Markets Inc., Fidessa, FundSERV, IBM Canada, IRESS, ITS, Omega ATS, TriAct, TSX and TSX-V. And, it says a working group is being formed to oversee the preparation for the test.
Dealer participation is voluntary, but IIROC “strongly urges” all dealers to participate in this test, “as it represents a valuable opportunity” for firms to supplement their mandatory annual BCP tests required under IIROC regulations.
Previous industry-wide BCP tests were carried out in 2007 and 2011, and similar tests are to be carried out every two years.