 Previous terrorist attacks ensure the City remains vigilant |
Britain's top financial institutions are "well prepared" to cope with a terrorist attack or natural disaster in London, a survey has concluded. Businesses are highly resilient and could quickly recover from a major disruption to their operations.
But the research - conducted by the Financial Services Authority - found that continuity planning across the financial sector could be improved.
Too many critical functions and back-up sites are based in London, it found.
Quick recovery
This "geographic concentration" of services in and around the capital made the industry potentially vulnerable.
The FSA, Bank of England and The Treasury have been working with leading financial institutions since 2001 to ensure they can respond quickly and effectively in the event of a major incident.
In the wake of the 7 July London bombings, City of London Police Commissioner James Hart said it was only a matter of time before London's financial centre was targeted.
New research - covering 60 of the UK's top financial firms - indicates that the sector is well-prepared in terms of overall security.
IT systems are highly resilient, meaning that firms could resume vital functions rapidly following any disruption.
However, the research indicates room for improvement in continuity planning.
More collaboration is needed between firms and their suppliers in areas such as testing and risk assessment, it says.
There was evidence that businesses were too heavily reliant on a small pool of companies supplying telecommunications, infrastructure and disaster recovery services.
Some businesses are also currently not following best practice about where they locate back-up services.
Out of London
London firms are advised to keep a business recovery site up to four miles away from their head office but also maintain an alternative operation outside the M25 to spread risk.
Several institutions were forced to move staff to remote locations in the aftermath of the 7 July bombings,
However, the level of disruption to business was minimal.
The FSA said it would not give detailed rules for firms on incident planning but would ensure best practice was shared and followed.
"The core systems we all depend on are highly resilient," an FSA spokesman said.
"The systems that ensure cheques are cleared and direct debits are getting paid are very robust.
"Where we found there was room for improvement was the way firms test their individual business continuity planning."
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The core systems we all depend on are highly resilient
