Agencies Don’t Recommend Expanding Scope Of Sound Practices

The three federal agencies given the responsibility of monitoring efforts by financial service firms to implement sound practices in the event of business disruption do not recommend expanding the firms to be included in the Sound Practices Paper’s coverage. In a report dated April 30, the board of governors of the Federal Reserve System, Office of the Comptrollerof the Currency and the Securities and Exchange Commission recognized the burden of introducing the guidelines and said it was sufficient for now to limit implementation to the two original groups covered by the paper – core clearing and settlement organizations, and those firms with at least 5% market share in their market whose failure could present systemic risk. The agencies, chosen for the task after the events of 9/11 disrupted markets, did encourage all financial services firms “to review and consider implementation of the sound practices, particularly if a firm’s transaction levels approach those deemed to be significant.”