It is unsurprising that UK financial regulators have recently decided to introduce a specific operational resilience function under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, SMF 24, which, for the first time, will enable regulators to hold senior management specifically responsible for any failings in operational resilience. At a recent hearing of the Treasury Select Committee, it was suggested that operational resilience would become a ‘third pillar’ of regulation, alongside prudential and conduct regulation. The decision to introduce SMF 24 reflects the fact that, over a decade on from the financial crisis, the focus of regulators has been steadily shifting from pure operational risk management towards operational resilience.Recent incidents, such as high-profile outages and service disruptions, have had a dramatic impact on both retail and business customers, which in many instances have resulted in increased mistrust in the financial markets and, ultimately, in financial loss. It is easy to see why resilience is now such a challenge. In addition to rising media, political and regulatory attention on incidents and crises, the financial services operating environment is also changing rapidly. Banks and financial institutions in general face ever more complex pressures, coming both from internal practices – such as having to upgrade legacy technology systems, cost and resource pressures and updating internal practices – as well as external stresses – namely technical innovations including FinTech, changing customer expectations, geo-political developments (such as BREXIT), increased cyber threats, more stringent operating regulations and broader eco-systems.Firms and regulators alike have made efforts to assess and improve operational resilience in recent years, from the Prudential Regulation Authority’s requirements for resolution planning, to the Financial Conduct Authority’s ‘deep dives’, to joint regulatory forensic cyber testing (CBEST), heavily promoted and supported by the Bank of England.The introduction of SMF24 has escalated operational resilience to a board level issue that all financial institutions are now having to address on both a strategic and practical level, as the potential consequences of an operational failure will have substantial regulatory consequence both for the firm and for senior managers.
Join us in central London on November 18th at The Operational Resilience in the Financial Sector Forum.
The Forum will look at how threats and challenges have become even more marked, given a hostile cyber-environment and large-scale technological changes, and how, consequently, operational resilience has become a vital part of protecting the financial system, institutions and consumers alike.
Featuring a speaker panel of quite exceptional quality, the programme will focus on how to embed effective operational resilience and risk management practices in the rapidly evolving regulatory and technological landscape, whilst overcoming new risks and challenges linked to automation, innovation and digital disruption.
Operational Risk & Resilience, Operational Risk, Technology & Cyber Risk, Risk, Operational Organisational & Cyber Resilience, Banking Markets & Products, Innovation, Investment Services, Legal & Compliance, Outsourcing & Third Party Risk, Shared Services Risk, Strategy & Change, Risk Controls, Enterprise Risk, Business Control, Operational Stress Testing, Conduct Surveillance, Risk Policy and Conformance, FinTech Risk, Risk and Regulatory, Risk Analytics, Public Cloud Risk. From Financial Institutions, Fund, Asset and Wealth Management Firms, Brokerage Houses, Exchanges, Depositories and Repositories.Furthermore, participation in the forum will also be very relevant for Solutions Providers and Financial Technology Companies, Strategic Consultancies, Law Firms, Accountants and other Advisers.
Monday, November 18, 2019 8:30 AM - 5:45 PM 
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP - London Office28 Tudor StreetLondon EC4Y 0BQUnited Kingdom