GACO EY Seminar - The Importance of Operational Resilience and Practical Steps to implement it - 29th February 2024

Gartner has defined Operational Resilience as initiatives that expand business continuity management programs to focus on the impacts, connected risk appetite and tolerance levels for disruption of product or service delivery to internal and external stakeholders (such as employees, customers, citizens and partners).

In different regions around the world, regulators are aiming to bring about change in how the finance industry manages the threat and impact of IT glitches, cyber attacks and other disruptions.

The specific issues regulators are concerned about include poor governance and oversight of outsourced functions and third-party service providers, insufficiently resilient legacy IT systems with poor cyber security, and a lack of contingency plans for business disruptions.

Operational Resilience is a broad regulatory theme that mandates a paradigm shift in how firms approach dealing with disruption. Find out more at our Operational Resilience workshop on Thu 29th February at the Yacht Hotel Sunborn in Gibraltar. 

Regulatory focus on financial services firms’ operational resilience moves the topic from typically an operations activity to something that should be actively considered in the running of the organisation. The UK’s approach mandates 7 logical steps run as part of a regular cycle to improve resilience and aims to embed a thought process rather than a tick box approach. Firms are given significant freedom in the way that they implement the regulation and then move it into BAU which can cause a higher degree of uncertainty around understanding what is required and getting the implementation right. Gibraltar has adopted the UK approach (2023s188.pdf (gibraltarlaws.gov.gi)) and our Operational Resilience workshop on Thursday 29th February will be a great way to understand the issues, nuances and how other firms have approached them.  

We are very happy to confirm that GACO was able to engage Will Packard, EY UK Operational Resilience Leader; Director, Financial Services, Ernst & Young LLP, to deliver this highly interesting Seminar.

Will is a director at Ernst & Young LLP in the Financial Services Operational Resilience team. His main focus is helping financial services organisations embed operational resilience into their day-to-day activities.

Prior to his career in consulting, Will worked for 22 years at a global bank, the majority of which was spent as a front office Chief Operating Officer (COO). He concluded his time at this organisation as Chief of Staff to the UK CEO.

He started his career as an officer in a British Army armoured regiment. Will has a BEng in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Southampton and has passed all three levels of the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter.

We are very happy as well to inform you that the Minister for Justice, Trade, and Industry, the Hon Nigel Feetham KC will open the seminar and address the audience with an initial introductory speech. 

Minister for Justice, Trade and Industry, HM Government of Gibraltar. Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party.

Previously Nigel Feetham, partner at Hassans International Law Firm, was appointed to the rank of Queen’s Counsel - now King's Counsel. The appointment was made by the governor of Gibraltar, Lieutenant General Edwards Davis, on 5 April 2019. In 2021 Nigel Feetham QC was appointed overall head of Hassans’ Financial Services Practice. 

Mr Feetham joined Hassans in 1993 and became a partner in 1999. During a career spanning over 30 years, he has specialised in setting up innovative insurance structures and has advised the Gibraltar government on insurance legislation, specifically those related to protected cell company (PCC) laws. He is considered an expert in insurance passporting and has contributed to a number of articles to Captive Insurance Times around Brexit and its potential impact on insurance passporting.

Furthermore, we are happy to inform you that some GFSC Members will be attending the event. 

Date: 29th February 2024
Venue: Yacht Hotel Sunborn, Gibraltar
Time: 9.30hrs - 12.00hrs
Course fees: GBP 40 GACO Members; GBP 60 Non-Members