Objective and key requirements of this PObjective and key requirements of this Prudential Standard

Objective and key requirements of this Prudential Standard

This Prudential Standard aims to ensure that an authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI) implements a whole of business approach to business continuity management (BCM) appropriate to the nature and scale of its operations. BCM increases an ADI’s resilience to business disruption arising from internal and external events and reduces the impact on the ADI’s business operations, reputation, profitability, depositors and other stakeholders.

The prime responsibility for the business continuity of the ADI rests with the Board of Directors (the Board) of the ADI, or in the case of a foreign branch, the senior officer outside Australia with delegated authority from the Board.

The key requirements of this Prudential Standard are:

• the Board and senior management of the ADI must consider the ADI’s business continuity risks and controls as part of its overall risk management framework when completing the risk management declaration provided to APRA on an annual basis;
• an ADI must identify, on a whole of business basis, critical business functions, resources and infrastructure, which, if disrupted, would have a material impact;
• an ADI must assess the impact of plausible disruption scenarios on all critical business functions, resources and infrastructure, and have in place appropriate recovery strategies to ensure that all necessary resources are readily available to withstand the impact of the disruption;
• an ADI must develop, implement and maintain a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) that documents procedures and information which enable the ADI to respond to disruptions and recover critical business functions. The BCP must be reviewed at least annually by responsible senior management and periodically reviewed through the ADI’s internal audit function or an external expert; and
• an ADI must notify APRA as soon as possible and no later than 24 hours after experiencing a major disruption that has the potential to materially impact depositors.