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SINGAPORE : Over the past week or so, financial institutions in Singapore have been involved in a simulated crisis drill, code-named Exercise Raffles II.
The aim is to prepare them for a flu pandemic, and results show that some 80 per cent are ready for such a crisis.
Singapore's financial sector was on high alert on Friday. More than 140 financial institutions took part in Exercise Raffles II to test their preparedness in the event of a flu outbreak. These include insurance companies, which practised handling a massive spike in claims.
Tan Suee Chieh, chief executive, NTUC Income, said: "We worked (it) out this week, we would be paying out hundreds of millions of claims - S$300 million to S$500 million more claims than usual.
"But that is what we are here for, to make sure that when a crisis like this comes, people are covered against a calamity like this." That is assuming the worst-case scenario, with some 29,000 deaths and half a million infections.
Banks said that most branches would then have to be closed and staff re-deployed.
Sigfried Ching, head of Business Continuity Management, OCBC Bank, said: "Part of our plans, in terms of our very critical payment operations and functions, is that we have this ready pool of manpower resources that we have already identified in advance.
"And we (have) also done what we call 'skills set matching', to make sure that there are sufficient resources elsewhere in the bank to support these critical functions in the event that manpower goes down."
The financial sector is the mainstay of Singapore's economy. If a flu pandemic were to hit Singapore, up to 40 per cent of the financial sector's workforce could be affected.
So emergency drills, such as Exercise Raffles II, will help to ensure financial institutions here are prepared to handle such crises. - CNA/ms
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