CHAPTER X

OPERATIONAL RISKS

(Article 45(1) to (6) of Regulation (EU) No 909/2014)
SECTION 2

Methods to test, address and minimise operational risks

Operational risk-management system and framework
Article 70
1
As part of the policies, procedures and systems referred to in Article 47, a CSD shall have in place a well-documented framework for the management of operational risk with clearly assigned roles and responsibilities. A CSD shall have appropriate IT systems, policies, procedures and controls to identify, measure, monitor, report on and mitigate its operational risk.
2
The management body and the senior management of a CSD shall determine, implement and monitor the risk-management framework for operational risks referred to in paragraph 1, identify all of the CSD's exposures to operational risk and track relevant operational risk data, including any cases where material data is lost.
3
A CSD shall define and document clear operational reliability objectives, including operational performance objectives and committed service-level targets for its services and securities settlement systems. It shall have policies and procedures in place to achieve those objectives.
4
A CSD shall ensure that its operational performance objectives and service-level targets referred to in paragraph 3 include both qualitative and quantitative measures of operational performance.
5
A CSD shall regularly monitor and assess whether its established objectives and service-level targets are met.
6
A CSD shall have rules and procedures in place that ensure that the performance of its securities system is reported regularly to senior management, members of the management body, relevant committees of the management body, user committees and the competent authority.
7
A CSD shall periodically review its operational objectives to incorporate new technological and business developments.
8
A CSD's operational risk-management framework shall include change-management and project-management processes to mitigate operational risk arising from modifications to operations, policies, procedures and controls put in place by the CSD.
9
A CSD's operational risk-management framework shall include a comprehensive framework for physical security and information security to manage the risks that the CSD faces from attacks, including cyber-attacks, intrusions and natural disasters. That comprehensive framework shall enable the CSD to protect the information at its disposal from unauthorised access or disclosure, ensure data accuracy and integrity and maintain availability of the services provided by the CSD.
10
A CSD shall put in place appropriate procedures concerning human resources to employ, train and retain qualified personnel, as well as mitigate the effects of personnel turnover or overreliance on key personnel.

Integration of and compliance with the operational and enterprise risk-management system
Article 71
1
A CSD shall ensure that its operational risk-management system is part of its day-to-day risk-management processes and that their results are taken into account in the process of determining, monitoring and controlling the CSD's operational risk profile.
2
A CSD shall have in place mechanisms for regular reporting to the senior management of operational risk exposures and losses experienced from operational risks, and procedures for taking appropriate corrective action to mitigate those exposures and losses.
3
A CSD shall have in place procedures for ensuring compliance with the operational risk-management system, including internal rules on the treatment of failures in the application of that system.
4
A CSD shall have comprehensive and well-documented procedures to record, monitor and resolve all operational incidents, including:
a
a system to classify the incidents taking into account their impact on the smooth provision of services by the CSD;
b
a system for reporting material operational incidents to the senior management, the management body and the competent authority;
c
a ‘post-incident’ review after any material disruption in the CSD's activities, to identify the causes and required improvements to the operations or business continuity policy and disaster recovery plan, including to the policies and plans of the users of the CSD. The result of that review shall be communicated to the competent authority and relevant authorities without delay.

Operational risk-management function
Article 72
As part of the risk-management function, the operational risk-management function of a CSD shall manage the CSD's operational risk. It shall in particular:
1. develop strategies, policies and procedures to identify, measure, monitor and report on operational risks;
2. develop procedures to control and manage operational risks, including by introducing any necessary adjustments in the operational risk-management system;
3. ensure that the strategies, policies and procedures referred to in points (a) and (b) are properly implemented.

Audit and testing
Article 73
1
A CSD's operational risk-management framework and systems shall be subject to audits. The frequency of those audits shall be based on a documented risk assessment and shall be conducted at least once every two years.
2
The audits referred to in the previous paragraph shall include both the activities of the internal business units of the CSD and those of the operational risk-management function.
3
A CSD shall regularly evaluate and, where necessary, adjust the system for the management of operational risk.
4
A CSD shall periodically test and review the operational arrangements, policies and procedures with users. The testing and review shall also be performed where substantive changes occur to the securities settlement system operated by the CSD or after operational incidents that affect the smooth provision of services by the CSD.
5
A CSD shall ensure that data flows and processes associated with the operational risk-management system are accessible to the auditors without delay.

Mitigation of operational risk through insurance
Article 74
A CSD may only contract insurance to mitigate the operational risks referred to in this Chapter where the measures referred to in this Chapter do not fully mitigate operational risks.