Watchdogs propose tougher rules to limit banking services glitches
UK regulators have proposed new rules to make banks and payment firms more resilient to major problems in the wake of TSB’s IT meltdown.
MPs called for regulatory changes in October after repeated technological failures by lenders such as TSB, Visa, Barclays and RBS.
Read more: TSB IT meltdown blamed on data centre test failure
Today, the Bank of England (BoE) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) proposed that banks and payment firms should have to identify their most important businesses and set the maximum level of disruption they would accept.
They would then have to lay out backup plans to make sure any disruption stays within these bounds.
FCA chief Andrew Bailey said: “Disruptive events can have a high impact on consumers and businesses so firms and financial market infrastructures need to know where the risks to their service delivery lie and to make sure that they are prepared for any service disruption by testing their planned response.”
The regulators have submitted their proposals to the public for consideration.
Simon Chard, IT financial services partner at PwC, said the proposals could be big news for businesses.
“All firms will need to show that they understand their business and the impact that an operational shock could have on customers and the system as a whole,” he said.
“This could well be the regulatory challenge that impacts organisations’ operations the most, and no firm can afford to ignore it.”
“Don’t think this is just a cyber problem either. The regulators are interested regardless of the cause of disruption.”