With the Covid-19 outbreak already prompting an emergency shift to remote working, the U.S. securities industry carried out an industry-wide business continuity test over the weekend.
The U.S. Securities and Financial Industry Markets Association (SIFMA) announced the successful completion of the comprehensive industry resilience test on Oct. 24.
The test involved broad connectivity testing as well as required annual continuity and recovery testing, including test transactions involving equities, options, fixed income, settlement, payments and market data.
SIFMA said that its test included approximately 100 securities firms and 80 other organizations, such as exchanges, markets and infrastructure firms.
“This test is a critical exercise which highlights our industry’s ability to operate through a significant emergency using backup sites, recovery facilities and backup communications capabilities across the industry,” said SIFMA president and CEO Kenneth Bentsen Jr., in a statement.
“The successful test underscores the ability of the securities industry to operate through adverse conditions, which is particularly important given the Covid-19 global pandemic,” he added.