Two U.S. trade organizations, the Bond Market Association and the Securities Industry Association, say that the specifics of risk-management decisions should be left to individual firms rather than to try adopting a one-size-fits-all approach.

The SIA and BMA say that strong competition among individual firms will compel them to develop the soundest risk-management programs possible. They also said that business continuity planning would suffer if firms were required to implement specific practices imposed by the government.

Their positions were outlined in a joint comment letter on the paper, White Paper on Sound Practices to Strengthen the Resilience of the U.S. Financial System, which was issued by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Comptroller of the Currency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the New York State Banking Department earlier this year. The paper looked at factors affecting the resilience of the financial markets in the event of a “wide-scale regional disruption.”

The associations said that if firms were to be required to assess risk differently or consider new risk-mitigation strategies, they would be forced to expend significant resources to alter plans already in place.

In Canada, the Investment Dealers Association also has a subcommittee examining the business continuity issue, in the wake of the September 11 attacks on Wall Street.