WISE is one of the key initiatives of HKFSBCM.
WISE (Whole Industry Simulation Exercise) creates a unique opportunity for participating organisations to exercise their response strategies to potential crisis situation, where the whole industry is impacted.
The first, smaller scale exercise was conducted in 2013, when a group of financial institutions each individually but simultaneously responded to simulated unfolding pandemic crisis. In 2015, a full-fledged exercise WISE2015 simulated a wide-scale transport disruption, followed by a serious internet disruption and data leakage. WISE2017 is expected to focus even further on potential Cyber threats.
Similar industry-wide exercises are organized in other countries, for instance the Quantum Dawn exercises in the US, the Raffles/IWE exercises in Singapore.
Crisis Management
Crisis management (CM) is the process by which an organization deals with a major event that threatens to harm the organization, its stakeholders, or the general public. The issues are typically so important, unexpected, extraordinary, urgent and sometimes emotional, that normal management is insufficient. It involves procedures and plans, but also individual skills and practices. In many countries, banks jointly engage in industry-wide table top exercises, where the Crisis Management Team (CMT) from each organization discusses the response to a challenging hypothetical situation, or a scenario, which is unfolded from a central simulation centre. Similarly, WISE 2015 was an industry-wide crisis management exercise where participating organizations jointly exercised their abilities to respond to the different crisis scenarios.
Tabletop Exercise
In a tabletop exercise, the crisis management team is called together on a pre-announced date and time. What they do not know, however, is the scenario that will unfold. Through so-called 'injects', which can be situation reports, emails, phone calls, or even newscasts, the CMT is informed of simulated developments of a crisis situation. A 'simulation team' in another room controls these injects. The CMT members will then have to respond, live, as if it was real. Because it is a table-top exercise only, no real actions are taken, for example, they will not evacuate the building or activate a recovery site. However, they will say they will and give these commands to the simulation team, who will role-play several parties. Again, as if it was real!
WISE is an industry wide table-top exercise where one central simulation team sent injects to all participating CMTs.
Objectives
• Increase awareness of the contemporary and emerging threats facing the financial services sector.
• Provide organisations with an opportunity to review their preparedness.
• Enable individual firms to exercise their crisis management plans and teams.
• Develop the skills to strategically respond to major incidents, including stakeholder management and coordination, crisis communication and crisis management skills.
Benefits of participating
• Cost efficient way to undergo a high-quality crisis management scenario exercise.
• Full participation in a simulated exercise involving your crisis management team.
• Access to subject matter expert briefing sessions in the months leading up to the exercise.
• Regular briefings on crisis management and crisis communications.
• Complimentary train-the-trainer seminars for facilitators of participating firms on effective crisis management.
• Company specific confidential debriefing, benchmarking and industry report.
Further information
Hong Kong Financial Services
Business Continuity Management Forum