SEC Tells Markets to Draft Disaster Plans

[salin]

SEC Tells Markets to Draft Disaster Plans

Sept. 26 — By Laura MacInnis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. trading markets should be prepared to re-open one business day after any major disruption, with backup sites and infrastructure at the ready, the Securities and Exchange Commission said on Friday.

The SEC urged self-regulatory organizations like the Nasdaq stock market to develop plans for coping with a potential wide-scale disruption to their operations, such as another attack like that on the World Trade Center, or a natural disaster, by the end of 2004.

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The SEC said it was important for trading markets to address their vulnerabilities in anticipation of any future disaster, including insuring their backup sites have access to water, electricity, and transport.

It said the SEC staff intends to engage each U.S. trading market to discuss individual disaster-planning strategies. It also said resuming operations one day after a disruption might be an appropriate benchmark for securities firms.

more: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/Business/reuters20030926_420.html


Glad they are doing this - but why did it take so long to start the process of 'engaging' each trading center in dicussions to plan emergency contingencies.

Hate to admit it - but the cynic in me asks... after all this time (2 years) - why are they pushing this now?

[flamingyouth]

1. Gee, that's great news...

(NOT)

No kidding, I agree - why now? What do they know that we haven't been harping on for the last 2+ years?

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Two years is not bad for a bureacracy

I suspect that they knew about these things more than a year ago, but everyone was taking their cues from the Administration. It's only now when it's obvious that the light ain't on at the White House, that agencies are getting pro-active, because the bottom line is, the country comes first.

[Maple]

3. Or as I saw in a spoof years ago....

"WWIII has broken out. Nuclear missiles have been exchanged. Washington DC and Moscow are in flames.

But first...a word from our sponsor...."