City of London to test bird flu business continuity

The City of London is planning to carry out a major bird flu pandemic business continuity simulation event next month.

The event, designed to test the readiness of the City’s systems in response to a possible bird flu crisis, is being organised by the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority and the Treasury.

The plan is to start the simulation of events on 13 October and end the exercise on 24 November.

The results will be made public after they are analysed. More than 60 financial services companies have been asked to take part.

“The overall objective for the authorities is to improve their own and the sector’s preparedness by providing an opportunity to review, test and update plans for managing a pandemic threat,” the organisers said.

Last November, the three bodies organised a similar exercise to test the City’s systems against a major operational disruption.

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