New SRO plans October business continuity test

The new industry self-regulatory organization will be carrying out its next coordinated, cross-border business continuity planning (BCP) exercise in the fall.

The still-nameless SRO announced that the next BCP simulation trading test is scheduled for Oct. 14, in coordination with U.S. testing “to facilitate participation by market participants who participate in both the Canadian and U.S. markets.”

Firms that trade at least 1 billion shares per year (based on 2022 data) are required to participate in the exercise, while firms with lower volumes are encouraged to take part.

This industry-wide test is designed to ensure that dealers have procedures in place to maintain operations amid an emergency or a significant business disruption.

“This industry BCP test reflects the fact that it is critically important for stakeholders to adequately test BCP policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to ensure the provision of key services and prompt client access to their assets,” the SRO said in a release.

In the 2021 version of the biennial test, an incident response plan exercise was also carried out, the SRO noted. This year, that exercise will be held on a separate date.

In the meantime, the SRO intends to form an industry working group “over the next several weeks” to help prepare the BCP test.

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