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Operational Resilience Case Study - International Investment Platform

As part of their Operational Resilience compliance programme, a well known International Investment Platform provider needed expert guidance to define and map their Operational Resilience framework in line with the FCA's regulatory expectations. 

FourthLine Consulting supported the client with an Enablement programme, followed by a Quality Assurance exercise.

What was the main challenge?

 The firm already had the key building blocks for Operational Resilience in place (risk management policy & procedures, disaster recovery plan and business continuity plan)

The client however realised that as part of the FCA's new regulation on Operational Resilience, they needed to consolidate those building blocks under one project and change the policy language to reflect what the regulators were using in their new policy statement.

Before engaging with FourthLine, the client spent 6 months bringing their risk management, disaster recovery and business continuity policies together under a new Operational Resilience framework. They also identified their important business services (IBS). They then had 6 months before the regulators’ March 2022 deadline to move from non-compliance to Operational Resilience compliance and to get board sign off.

The client had to make numerous structural changes in terms of roles and responsibilities. They realised they needed an external expert to help them on the journey to compliance. They wanted to ensure that they were following a good methodology, and were consistent in delivering an Ops Res framework that was on par with their industry peers.

How FourthLine helped the client:

  • FourthLine provided the client with a clear methodology on how to approach all the components of the new Operational Resilience regulatory policy
  • FourthLine did a full quality assurance check on all the important business services they previously identified to become part of the new framework
  • This included identifying intolerable harm for all important business services, setting impact tolerances, mapping, resource allocation and reporting
  • FourthLine also supplied the client with templates to use going forward when managing their Operational Resilience programme

The Outcome:

The key milestone of the project was to get board approval for the new Operational Resilience framework and have the self-assessment ready before the March 2022 deadline.

Because of FourthLine’s support and guidance, the board approval process was relatively straightforward. The board approved the project and self-assessment document with minimal changes needed and within the timeline set by the regulators. 

How FourthLine can help:

FourthLine is working with several clients to help them implement Operational Resilience and Third-Party Risk Management programmes, through a mixture of consulting and resourcing services.

We can offer full end-to-end project support, conduct quality assurance or help enable your own team through secondments, training and toolkits.

You can get in touch here to find out more about our tailored and proportionate responses to Operational Resilience compliance.

For more Operational Resilience insights, go to our Operational Resilience micro-site.

 

Topics: Insurance Sector

May 13, 2022