Payment firms have been alerted by the Bank of England to enhance their preparations for new ‘operational resilience’ standards set to take effect next year.
These standards aim to minimize disruptions to payment systems caused by events such as cyber attacks or extreme weather conditions. With a deadline approaching in March 2025, the Bank of England expects financial market infrastructure (FMI) firms to intensify their efforts. According to Sasha Mills, the Bank’s executive director for financial market infrastructure, FMIs need to calibrate their tolerance for negative impacts on crucial business services and map out the key personnel, processes, technology, facilities, and information required to deliver these services.
Firms are encouraged to start testing their readiness to address potential issues. The Bank anticipates increased collaboration between FMIs, their participants, and the broader market to define the calibration of impact tolerances. Mills emphasized that there is still considerable work to be done regarding the approaches and methods FMIs employ to test disruptions to important business services.