More than 90 financial institutions and market infrastructure providers took part in this year’s industry-wide business continuity test coordinated by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) on 25 October.
The annual exercise aims to verify that trading and post-trade operations can continue in the event of major disruptions. Participants included exchanges, clearing agencies, payment platforms, and market data providers, all operating from backup sites and using recovery systems.
Alongside the industry test, entities covered by the US Regulation SCI conducted their required disaster recovery exercises. According to SIFMA, this “included simulated trading days for all Reg SCI exchanges and ATSs, along with simulated post-trade activity for clearing utilities, as well as simulated regulatory trade reporting.”
Operational resilience
Charles DeSimone, SIFMA’s managing director for technology and operations, said the exercise reflects the industry’s ongoing focus on safeguarding operations. “SIFMA and its members remain focused on operational resilience to protect clients, data, networks and operations from diverse cyber threats including theft, disruption and destruction,” he said.
DeSimone added that “the successful test outcome underscores the ability of the securities industry to operate through adverse conditions.”
