With constant change, emerging risks, and ongoing regulatory updates, financial institutions (FIs) must stay prepared for anything. Maintaining business resiliency starts with a solid foundation in business continuity.
What’s the difference between business resiliency and business continuity? And can BCM help FIs stay strong and adaptable? Let’s take a closer look.
Related: What is Business Continuity for Financial Institutions?
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Business resiliency is an FI’s ability to anticipate, prepare for, and adapt to changing conditions to withstand and rapidly recover from disruptions. Disruptions can occur internally and externally and take many forms, such as power outages, data breaches, and system failures.
While business continuity focuses on maintaining critical functions and minimum service levels during a disruption, business resiliency takes a more holistic approach. It considers the FI’s strategic goals and financial objectives and how it can continue to thrive and innovate amid changes and challenges.
While they are separate concepts, business continuity is essential to maintaining business resiliency.
Related: A Guide to Operational Resilience for Financial Institutions
The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council’s (FFIEC) latest guidance – the Business Continuity Management booklet – redefined how FIs should think about business continuity by changing the term “business continuity planning” (BCP) to “business continuity management” (BCM). The update didn’t just revise terminology — it marked a fundamental shift in expectations.
As a result, more FIs are going beyond post-event recovery planning and focusing on maintaining systems and controls to strengthen overall business resiliency, reflecting the shift from BCP to BCM.
Related: Does Your BCP Have a BCP?
Governance (i.e. the internal rules, processes, policies, and structures that guide an organization's decision-making and strategy) is an integral part of overall business resilience. A strong governance and risk management strategy can't be executed to its potential without the right team, including the board and management.
Long gone are the days of the board simply signing off on plans. They must actively understand and oversee continuity risks, ensuring that BCM strategies align with an institution's risk appetite, its guide for strategic decision-making, and resource allocation. Management is responsible for implementing controls, maintaining resilience, and adapting capabilities as continuity risks evolve.
Related: Expert Q&A: What Is a Risk Appetite Statement?
The FFIEC’s guidance notes that an institution’s BCM should integrate with its enterprise risk management (ERM). The level and formality of the integration should align with the FI’s complexity and risk profile.
The guidance also recommends evaluating inherent risks and the effectiveness of controls to determine overall residual risk. Examiners are primarily interested in whether organizations appropriately assess the likelihood and impact of potential disruptions and whether their risk strategies are designed to support overall resilience.
As FIs consider their organization’s ERM strategies and build resilience, there are a few emerging risk areas to evaluate:
Related: 2025 Third-Party Risk Management Survey
Effective BCM spans the entire organization, ensuring critical operations remain resilient. It should be embedded in the risk management lifecycle and aligned with strategic objectives.
The FFIEC outlines a 10-step BCM lifecycle that includes:
FIs can tailor the cycle into a single BCM policy or function-specific policies. At a minimum, policies should define scope, roles, accountability, and guidance for maintaining resilience.
Business continuity software helps FIs plan for and respond to operational disruptions. It streamlines developing, documenting, and maintaining business continuity and disaster recovery plans.
Key functions include:
The right BCM software is a critical tool for resilience and regulatory readiness. It helps institutions prepare for adverse events, manage emergencies, and sustain operations with minimal disruption.
How can FIs integrate BCM into daily operations and work toward a strong, more resilient organization? Here are some takeaways to help you get started:
Want to learn more about how BCM software and services can support your FI?