Every major FSA regulated firm in London needs to have a comprehensive and robust plan to cope with a disruption to its operations.
Michael Foot, a managing director at the FSA, says: "It is essential that all firms in the financial services sector ensure that they are properly prepared. None of us can afford to be complacent about the challenges that inevitably arise in an environment where the potential threat is so great."
Since last year's terrorist attack on New York and Washington, the Financial Services Authority has worked to improve its ability to cope with an event that closed its own HQ in Canary Wharf and which threatened the smooth
operation of key firms and financial markets in the UK.
The FSA has also worked closely with the financial services sector, HM Treasury, and the Bank of England to raise business continuity standards more generally.
This work has been designed to ensure the authorities are able to communicate quickly with those institutions whose continued operations are critical to the payments and settlement systems and markets on which London's key international and domestic markets are based.
