Internal Audit of the Recovery Plan

SUMMARY

The client, an independent and privately-owned banking group which provides private banking services, wanted an external expert to support their internal audit team. In particular, the client wanted to review and provide assurance that their Group Recovery Plan is in line with the latest regulatory requirements and best market practices. The main challenge was the short timeline where the client wanted to have the final report to be finalised in a couple of weeks. Avantage Reply provided a recovery planning expert with internal auditing skills who reviewed and assessed the compliance of the recovery plan and the controls around this process.

CUSTOMER GOALS

The goal was two-fold; 1) to review the recovery plan and to provide assurance that it is in line with the minimum regulatory requirements and 2) to confirm and validate that the recommended enhancements from the prior audit have been implemented to a satisfactory level.

CHALLENGES

The primary challenge was the short deadline for the delivery of the final audit report within a couple of weeks from the start.

SOLUTION

Avantage Reply provided a recovery planning expert to conduct the regulatory review and audit assessment for the processes put in place. The expert performed the following:

Support was provided with:

• Assessed the completeness of the recovery plan;
• Performed a gap analysis with the regulatory requirements;
• Reviewed the strategic analysis performed;
• Assessed the governance structure of the recovery plan;
• Assessed the escalation, communication and disclosure processes;
• Analysed the preparatory measures;
• Reviewed the recovery options, triggers and indicators;
• Reviewed the relevant controls and their operational effectiveness;
• Reviewed the implementation of the findings from the prior audit.

By supporting the department on those projects and their daily tasks, the team was able to counterbalance the increased workload during the period until a new team member could be hired without neglecting any aspect of their responsibilities.