{"id":21629,"date":"2022-12-13T09:06:32","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T09:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/davies-group.com\/consulting\/blog\/operational-resilience-a-game-of-three-halves\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T11:48:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T11:48:36","slug":"operational-resilience-a-game-of-three-halves","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/davies-group.com\/consulting\/blog\/operational-resilience-a-game-of-three-halves\/","title":{"rendered":"Operational resilience: a game of three halves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finding operational resilience difficult, complex and quite frankly a hard slog? You\u2019re not alone. Many wealth managers have recognised we\u2019re in the warm-up phase of the long game that is Operational Resilience. Which means it’s time to get your team in, assess where you are, and confirm or revise your strategy for the next stage.<\/p>\n

Trouble is, with the March 2022 FCA deadline<\/a> firmly behind us, and 2025 deadline still a long way off, it\u2019s all too easy to tire.<\/p>\n

Our advice is to stay focused: this really is a marathon, not a sprint. Now is the time to reality check and if necessary revise your plans, progress key actions, keep the programme on track and keep the Board confident that your business really is becoming more resilient.<\/p>\n

Rather than pacing down, it’s time to up your game.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As experts in asset and wealth management, we also take a long-term view. In the year since we first published our first Operational Resilience survey<\/a> and findings, the world around the regulation has continued to evolve at pace.<\/p>\n

Here are the key themes from our experience over the past 12 months, along with top tips for 2023:<\/p>\n

Include Your Third Parties<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wealth management firms operate complex technological and operational landscapes, with technology and services increasingly provided by third parties. From video calling to risk profiling to entire CRM platforms, there is a growing reliance on third party products and services across the end-to-end client journey. It should therefore be a primary concern that any issue with any one of these providers could quickly lead to a domino effect that the organisation simply does not have the capacity or capability to manage. Firms must ensure transparency with and from their third parties and must work collaboratively and cooperatively together. Contractual remedies alone are not sufficient.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the need for organisations to include third party providers in their Operational Resilience programmes applies now more than ever. With the FCA discussion paper<\/a> on this topic due to close for feedback on 23 December 2022, firms’ reliance on third party providers is quickly becoming the centre of attention with the regulator – and rightly so. The publication of specific third-party Operational Resilience regulations seems imminent. This should accelerate firms\u2019 desire to speak to these parties sooner rather than later. After all, the firm is only as strong as its weakest provider.<\/p>\n

Of course, some third parties will be more on the ball than others, depending on whether they already fall under the guise of Operational Resilience. For instance, a technology provider of video calling facilities will not be subject to these regulations, whereas a provider for a custodian platform will. Organisations need to take stock of their third parties’ current states and resiliency awareness, and then incorporate this into their resiliency plans and actions.<\/p>\n