Description
On 9th of November 2019, INTERBOLSA performed the external activation test of its disaster recovery centre, allowing financial intermediaries to verify the INTERBOLSA recovery capacity, acting normally from their own offices.
This test is part of the plan to verify the adequacy and of the operation of the recovery procedures and necessary resources as described in the BCP of INTERBOLSA.
INTERBOLSA took advantage of the availability of the T2S platform during a non-working day to test with external participation the activation of the BCP. This availability was made possible by ECB extending the real time settlement window after the NTS settlement on the night from Friday to Saturday until Saturday afternoon.
| The testing began early Saturday morning with the activation of the disaster recovery center and with the re-routing of the communications to that site to allow access of all Participants to the recovery system. | Immediately after the activation of the disaster recovery center, the Support and Recovery Teams activated the applications in the disaster recovery site, and proceeded with the verification of the existence of information that resulted from the previous processing, as well as the accessibility to the services. | After this the services were made available to the Participants that they carried out testing activities using their terminals in their offices. These activities consisted of queries and data entry operations as well as information upload and download using the file transfer functions and real time messages of the STD system. |
Participants
The test was open to all financial intermediaries affiliated with INTERBOLSA. The following participated:
- Banco Comercial Português, SA
- Caixa Banco de Investimento, SA
- BNP Paribas Securities Services
- Citibank Europe, PLC
- Caixa Geral de Depósitos, SA
- Banco de Portugal
| The test allowed Participants to verify the integrity of the information of the alternative centre, as well as the operating conditions of the services, thus demonstrating the adequacy of INTERBOLSA’s recovery strategy. | All the activities executed according to a predefined test plan, which was thoroughly carried out. The testing was concluded with success, which was recognised by all internal and external Participants. |
During the tests no critical issues were identified that could jeopardize the functioning of INTERBOLSA’s backup systems in a real disaster situation. This asserts the adequacy of the Business Continuity Plan of INTERBOLSA, as well as, of the disaster recovery data center.
This result reinforces once more the engagement of INTERBOLSA in satisfying international recommendations and good practises for business continuity, thus contributing to the mitigation of the risks associated with possible disasters. This achievement contributes to the continuity of the business and the safety and reliability of the market structures, strengthening the trust of the investors and the participants and benefiting, in the end, the whole Portuguese Financial Market.