The tripartite approach to business continuity in the UK financial sector

The Tripartite Authorities — HM Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority — come together in the Tripartite Standing Committee (TSC), established in the 1997 Memorandum of Understanding for Financial Stability, revised in 2006. Under the aegis of the TSC, the Authorities maintain a framework for the management of operational disruption, within which they seek to identify and promote high standards of business continuity within the private financial sector, and to strengthen the ability of key participants to coordinate their responses to disruption. If there is operational disruption, the Tripartite's aims are primarily to keep payments and settlements systems open, to keep markets open if there is no threat to financial stability, and to facilitate an early return to normal trading. Recently, there has been much planning for the possibility of an influenza pandemic. This is a reminder that many threats are global in nature, and the lessons of the paper should therefore be of international relevance. In addition, steps are under way to enhance international cooperation in business continuity planning and crisis communications.