Banking and Finance Sector-Specific Plan - U.S. Department of ...

The Banking and Finance Sector has three primary goals to achieve this vision statement. As with all endeavors focused primarily
on security, the goals form a triad of prevention, detection, and correction of harm with the following objectives for the
sector:
1.To maintain its strong position of resilience, risk management, and redundant systems, in the face of a myriad of intentional,
unintentional, manmade, and natural threats;
2.To address and manage the risks posed by the dependence of the sector on the Communications, Information Technology,
Energy, and Transportation sectors; and
3.To work with the law enforcement community, the private sector, and our international counterparts to increase the amount
of available resources dedicated to tracking and catching criminals responsible for crimes against the sector, including cyber
attacks and other electronic crimes.
The agencies are mindful of the risk that an unanticipated event, such as a terrorist attack, could occur in a manner that we
have not seen before and for which we may not be completely prepared. Moreover, we live with the continuing threat of
turbulent weather, which could severely damage the critical infrastructure and facilities of financial services firms. In addition,
the financial services industry cannot fully protect against infrastructure disruptions of telecommunications, and it can provide
only limited resilience against disruptions in other elements of the critical infrastructure, such as power, transportation, and
water. 16
1.4 Value Proposition
The public and private sectors have equally compelling value propositions to support their voluntary participation in sectorwide
resilience efforts, including this SSP.
For financial regulators, working collaboratively with the private sector furthers the important mission to promote the orderly
and efficient operation of the financial services sector. While financial regulators enforce extensive regulation and conduct
regular examinations of the institutions, voluntary collaboration with the private sector has proved to be an effective method
to garner industry-wide participation in the identification of emerging and dynamic risks and preparation of response capabilities.
Through information sharing, testing, and exercises, regulators are able to better understand sector-wide vulnerabilities
and resilience. These efforts provide a means for addressing dynamic risks through voluntary collaboration rather than solely
through regulation.
For private sector institutions and organizations, participation in voluntary collaborative efforts provides value in several ways.
Working alongside the public sector provides unique insights into regulators’ concerns, perspectives, and priorities. Through
relationship building, information sharing, testing, and exercises, financial institutions are able to discuss matters outside of the
normal regulatory framework. Most importantly, financial institutions and financial services organizations participate in these
voluntary efforts because of the concrete value they provide to their companies and, in turn, their customers. Customers must
have confidence in their financial institution’s ability to maintain orderly operations and to be highly resilient. Participating in
these voluntary sector-wide efforts provides institutions with a better understanding of vulnerabilities within the sector as well
as risks posed by its dependence on other sectors. Insights gained through voluntary collaboration assist financial institutions’
efforts to tailor responses to manage their specific risk as well as sector-wide risk. In turn, the financial institutions are better
able to meet their customers’ demand for a high degree of resilience and reliability.
16 www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/rptcongress/soundpractices/soundpractices200604.pdf.
0 Banking and Finance Sector-Specific Plan