The Japan Bankers Association is drawing up a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)for the financial services industry based on the American and British models developed after 9.11. In Japan, the disaster scenarios understandably include earthquakes as well as terrorist attacks.
According to reports in Japan, ideas under discussion include a moratorium on settlement payments, shorter trading periods, and extended settlement deadlines.
“JBA expects these ideas help to avoid a settlement freeze and serious funding failures,” says a spokesman for Mizuho Corporate Bank in Tokyo. “Nonetheless, if a good-standing bank faced a difficulty in obtaining finance, emergency injections would be requested from the Bank of Japan.”
The JBA is preparing an emergency contact list. It expects the BCP plan to be published in Spring 2006, with regular drills to test its effectiveness being held.