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Financial Institution Letter

FDITECH Launches Tech Sprint to Measure and Test Bank Operational Resiliency

August 16, 2021  |  FIL-57-2021

Summary:

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) today announced a ‘tech sprint’ designed to explore new measures, data, tools, or capabilities to determine how well community banks, and the banking sector as a whole, can withstand a major disruption of any type.

Statement of Applicability: This Financial Institution Letter (FIL) applies to all FDIC-insured financial institutions.

Highlights:

  • The FDIC’s tech lab, FDITECH, is launching a ‘tech sprint,’ challenging participants to identify solutions that can be used by institutions of all sizes to measure and test their resilience to a major disruption.
  • The U.S. financial sector is facing a growing number of threats to its information technology systems, operations, people, and facilities. From natural disasters to malicious actors, the ability of financial institutions to respond to and recover from these disruptions in a timely, consistent, and reliable manner is part of the FDIC’s mission of promoting trust in the financial system.
  • Recognizing the evolving threat environment to bank operations, their need to strengthen resilience, and given the challenges that banks face in identifying criteria to determine their respective levels of tolerance for a disruption, the FDIC seeks solutions that improve sector-wide resilience by helping answer the question:
    “What would be the most helpful set of measures, data, tools, or other capabilities for financial institutions, particularly community banks, to use to determine and to test their operational resilience against a disruption?”
  • In a few weeks, FDITECH will open registration for this tech sprint. Interested parties will have two weeks to submit applications requesting participation. After a brief review of submissions, FDITECH will invite a select number of teams to participate. Selected teams will attend a Kick-Off meeting and then work on their proposed solutions for a period of approximately three weeks. Finally, FDITECH will host a ‘Demo Day,’ inviting teams to make short presentations to a panel of expert judges who will evaluate their solutions.
  • Read more about FDITECH’s tech sprint, From Hurricanes to Ransomware: Measuring Resilience in the Banking World.
  • Any additional questions about the tech sprint can be sent to Innovation@FDIC.gov.

Distribution:

FDIC-Insured Institutions

Suggested Routing:

Chief Executive Officer
Compliance Officer
Chief Information/Technology Officer

Related Topics:

Information Technology/Cybersecurity