In accordance with COBAC Regulation R-2008/01 requiring credit institutions to prepare a business continuity plan, every credit institution must carry out, at intervals appropriate to the risks and consequences of the various risks and consequences of the various scenarios of major operational disruption, to evaluate its business continuity management system with regard to its capacity to withstand major operational disruptions, ensuring in particular that:
– The alternate site is in a separate region from the primary location and does not have the same physical infrastructure components;
– The alternate site has sufficient up-to-date data, equipment and systems to recover and maintain necessary t critical operations and services for a sufficient period of time;
– The business continuity plan defines the means of transportation and the arrangements for critical operations and services consistent with the recovery objectives.
Each credit institution that poses a risk to the banking system should conduct tests of its alternative sites independently of operational managers and participate in banking system-level tests to assess the level of resilience across the banking system and the compatibility of other credit institutions’ recovery strategies.
The scope and frequency of testing should be determined by the criticality of the applications and functions to the credit institution, as well as the credit institution’s place in the banking and financial system and significant changes in the national, regional and international environment.
The significant findings resulting from the periodic tests of the business continuity plans must be submitted to the deliberative and executive bodies within a reasonable period of time so that necessary corrective measures are taken and the business continuity management system is updated.