IOSCO Consults on Outsourcing Principles for Operational Resilience

The revised principles comprise a set of fundamental precepts and a set of seven principles. The consultation report contains sections on particular sectors and issues, with Annex A providing a report on outsourcing among credit rating agencies, including the use of cloud computing. The fundamental precepts cover issues such as the definition of outsourcing, the assessment of materiality and criticality, their application to affiliates, the treatment of sub-contracting, and outsourcing on a cross-border basis. The seven principles cover the following areas, with each of these principles being supplemented with guidance for implementation:

• Due diligence in the selection and monitoring of a service provider
• The contract with a service provider
• Information security, business resilience, continuity and disaster recovery
• Confidentiality Issues
• Concentration of outsourcing arrangements
• Access to data, premises, personnel, and associated rights of inspection
• Termination of outsourcing arrangements 

Since the publication of IOSCO´s earlier principles on outsourcing for market intermediaries and for markets, developments in markets and technology have increased regulatory attention on risks related to outsourcing and the need to ensure the operational resilience of regulated entities. IOSCO prepared this report before the COVID-19 outbreak. However, on April 08, 2020, the IOSCO Board agreed to delay publication of its reports to allow firms and financial institutions to redirect their resources to focus on the challenges arising from the pandemic. As the initial stages of this crisis pass, the IOSCO Board has decided to publish this report now because the outbreak of COVID-19 has highlighted the need to ensure resilience in operational activities and to maintain business continuity in situations where both external and often unforeseen shocks impact both firms and their service providers. To account for the ongoing resource constraints on financial institutions, however, the consultation period goes well beyond the typical 90-day comment period and will end on October 01, 2020. The consultation report includes a set of questions, including one of particular relevance during the current COVID-19 pandemic: What measures for business continuity would be effective in situations where all, or a significant portion, of both the outsourcers’ and third-party providers’ work force is working remotely? In particular, what steps should be taken so Cyber Security and Operational Resilience can be ensured?” 

Related Links

• Media Release (PDF)
• Consultation Paper (PDF)

Comment Due Date: October 01, 2020

Keywords: International, Banking, Securities, PMI, Credit Rating Agencies, Operational Risk, Outsourcing, Third-party Arrangements, Cloud Computing, COVID-19, IOSCO