DORA: Raising the bar for operational resilience

Infrastructure failures, system outages and other ICT disruptions can wreak havoc, whether at an internal operational level, as a result of ostensibly harmless action, like the July 2024 CrowdStrike update that ‘crashed’ Microsoft Windows, or as a consequence of intended external action such as the ransomware attack on the ION platform in early 2023.

For financial markets participants in particular, mission-critical infrastructure disruption or failure directly impacts trade execution, and associated transaction lifecycle workflows, potentially causing reconciliation failure, settlement delay, breaches of regulatory reporting, and in worst case scenarios, introducing systemic market risk.

Operational resilience is no longer a case of having backup systems, cybersecurity protocols and Business Continuity Programmes; it’s about ensuring the continuity of critical functions and services during adverse events and being able to demonstrate (prove) the ability to withstand – and recover from – mission-critical ICT-related disruption.

DORA sets a new standard for ensuring operational resilience in the EU financial sector, emphasising the importance of assuring uninterrupted access to critical services and data during disruptions. Specifically, DORA requires financial entities to have plans for continuity of operations in the event of a critical supplier failure with the high-level goals of:

• Making the financial sector more resilient to operational disruptions

• Harmonising rules for operational resilience

• Enhancing digital operational resilience

While cybersecurity measures and recovery protocols are absolutely essential, DORA highlights the need for robust solutions that ensure availability, accuracy, and accessibility of critical digital information and data.

This is an area in which FOW Professional can play a very valuable role.

Data access and business continuity, despite disruptions

Enter FOW Professional, a powerful online platform and essential tool in a financial firm’s IT resilience armoury, offering robust, assured resilience to infrastructure and system disruption, and a highly valuable solution supporting effective DORA compliance.

The FOW Professional web-based online portal is designed to ensure seamless, uninterrupted access to high-quality derivatives reference data to support front end trade execution and all touch points in the transaction lifecycle. Provided that internet access is available, financial firms have immediate, any time, anywhere access to the vital reference data required to support trading operations efficiently, and indeed continuity during ICT outages or system failures. Whether your business already has a primary reference data provider, or this is undertaken in house, FOW Professional can provide either a golden reference data source or an independent online backup, ready to be initiated when needed.

In the context of DORA, FOW Professional isn’t just a data and intelligence service —it’s a strategic enabler and mission-critical tool that bolsters operational integrity and resilience which supports regulatory compliance. Here’s how:

Web-based access, any time, any location

Unlike traditional data solutions that rely on local systems or bespoke integrations, FOW Professional is entirely web-delivered. This approach eliminates reliance on physical infrastructure, allowing users to access critical reference data from any location with an internet connection. In the event of a major outage, financial firms can still retrieve essential derivatives data to maintain operations and comply with regulatory requirements.

Comprehensive, validated, normalised reference data

FOW Professional offers immediate, continuing access to the best available derivatives reference data from more than 120 exchanges, including contract specifications, trading calendars, volumes, and multiple lifecycle event data. Real-time accessibility helps firms respond quickly to operational and market changes and disruptions, to continue to process transactions through end to end processes and workflows, and to mitigate settlement delays and potential compliance breaches.

Focused and timely market intelligence

FOW Professional brings together the highest quality derivatives reference data with focused, expert market intelligence that provides users with a holistic view of market activity supporting better decision-making and useful information at times of market disruption.

While web-based online service delivery is the cornerstone of FOW Professional’s value in the context of operational resilience and continuity, the platform has many more features and benefits that enhance its value to financial institutions:

• Customisable user experience: The platform’s intuitive design allows individual users to tailor their experience, for example, focusing on specific asset classes, exchanges and contract types. Users get straight to the data and intelligence that they need to support their particular role.

• Scalable and future-ready: Standardised data processes enable the solution to be scaled seamlessly, incorporating new exchanges and data points without compromising quality.

• Access on the go:Professionals can access critical reference data via desktop or mobile devices; decision-making doesn’t stop when users are not physically in their offices.

As DORA ushers in a new era of operational resilience standards and associated compliance challenges, FOW Professional can play a mission-critical role in supporting firms to navigate service continuity at times of infrastructure and system disruption.