[OR] [CB] [E3] [C1] Starting Your OR Implementation for Clarien Bank

eBook 3: Chapter 1

Beginning the Journey of Operational Resilience Implementation

Introduction

Operational Resilience (OR) is no longer a theoretical concept or a   regulatory checkbox exercise. For financial institutions such as Clarien Bank, operational resilience is a strategic necessity — ensuring that critical services remain within acceptable impact tolerances during disruption, while protecting customers, counterparties, regulators, and the wider financial system of Bermuda.

This eBook 3, “Starting Your OR Implementation,” marks the transition from understanding and design into structured execution.

It builds upon:

• eBook 1 – “Understanding Your Organisation”
  (Establishing organisational context, governance, business environment, and service landscape)
  
  
• eBook 2 – “Implementing Operational Resilience for Clarien Bank”
  (Defining framework structure, governance model, resilience principles, and alignment with regulatory expectations)

While the first two eBooks establish strategic and structural foundations, this third volume drills into Phase 2 of the Operational Resilience Planning Methodology — the stage where resilience is operationalised, documented, tested, and validated.

This eBook represents a compilation of structured submissions prepared during an operational resilience exercise, reflecting how Clarien Bank translates policy into practice.

The Operational Resilience Journey at Clarien Bank is designed as a progressive learning and implementation pathway:

• eBook 1 – Understanding Your Organisation
  Establishes organisational context, business models, important business services, and governance foundations.
  
  
• eBook 2 – Implementing Operational Resilience for Clarien Bank
  Introduces the OR framework, regulatory expectations, and high-level methodology aligned to supervisory guidance.
  
  
• eBook 3 – Starting Your OR Implementation
  Drills into Phase 2 of the OR Planning Methodology, where analysis becomes granular, evidence-driven, and execution-focused.

This eBook assumes that readers have completed or are familiar with the outputs of eBook 1 and eBook 2 and are now ready to engage in detailed operational resilience planning.

The five core stages of the “Implement” phase in the Operational Resilience Planning Methodology are central to this ebook. These stages form the backbone of OR implementation:

• Identify Critical Business Services [DP]
  Determining the business services that, if disrupted, could pose a significant risk to Metrobank’s customers, market integrity, or financial stability.
  
  
• Map Dependency and Connectivity [MD]
  Uncovering and documenting the relationships and interdependencies—both internal and external—that support the delivery of critical business services.
  
  
• Map Processes and Resources [MPR]
  Cataloguing the key operational elements—people, systems, data, and facilities—that underpin each critical business service's performance and continuity.
  
  
• Establish Impact Tolerances [ITo]
  Setting defined thresholds for disruption to determine how much stress a service can endure before unacceptable harm occurs.
  
  
• Identify Severe but Plausible Scenarios [SuPS]
  Identifying Severe but Plausible Scenarios that could critically impact each detailed process within the Critical Business Service
  
  
• Perform Scenario Testing [ST]
  Validating assumptions and capabilities by simulating disruptive scenarios to evaluate how well the bank can maintain or recover its critical business services.

As part of the Identification of Critical Business Services and Phase 2 planning activities, the following Critical Business Services (CBS) for Clarien Bank are used as the primary scope for analysis and illustration throughout this eBook:

This list marks the formal start of the Identification of Critical Business Services and is intended to be inserted directly into the operational resilience report as part of the organisation’s documented methodology and scope definition.

This eBook is delivered as part of the value-adding and complementary services offered to organisations that intend to:

• Implement an actual operational resilience or BCM project, or
• Upgrade an existing BCM programme to meet evolving regulatory and supervisory expectations.

It supports organisations participating in the BCM Institute’s training-led implementation approach, particularly those attending:

• Certification programmes, and
• Competency-based professional training courses.

Rather than treating training and implementation as separate activities, this approach integrates learning, application, and evidence creation, allowing organisations to build real operational resilience artefacts while developing internal capability and practitioner competence.

By the end of this eBook, readers should be able to:

• Translate high-level Critical Business Services into detailed, defensible process maps
• Identify and document material dependencies and resource concentrations
• Set impact tolerances that are realistic, measurable, and regulator-ready
• Design and execute scenario testing that focuses on service continuity rather than system recovery
• Produce structured outputs suitable for internal governance, regulatory review, and audit scrutiny

This eBook is not intended to be read passively. It is designed to be used as a working reference during an operational resilience exercise, supporting teams as they move from planning to execution in a controlled, methodical, and regulator-aligned manner.

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