GCA Operations Continue Through China Earthquake and London Power Outage
The 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck southwestern China on May 12 led to a full evacuation of DTCC’s Shanghai office, putting the company’s Business Continuity Plan for the Global Corporate Actions (GCA) business to the test.
The day of the quake, despite the devastation and loss of life near the epicenter and widespread uncertainty, GCA processing proceeded seamlessly at other DTCC locations and was completed on time.
“Our customers experienced no impact to their operations, thanks to soundness of our continuity plan and the efforts of our staff in Shanghai, London and New York under difficult conditions,” said Andrew Barnes, DTCC director of operations in Shanghai.
Double whammy
The Shanghai office is located more than 1,000 miles from the epicenter of the quake, but even at that distance, it felt the impact. DTCC evacuated its Shanghai quarters when the earthquake hit in the early afternoon. Fortunately, no employees were injured, and the building was not damaged, although it remained closed to staff for the rest of the day due to continuing aftershocks.
“It was like trying to catch your balance on a ship in stormy seas,” said Barnes, who was in a stairwell at the time. “The whole building swayed for about 10 minutes.”
To ensure uninterrupted processing for the GCA business, DTCC automatically redirected the Shanghai workload to staff in London and New York. However, in an unusual turn of events, a flood in DTCC’s London office building triggered a power outage at that location, forcing the GCA London staff to leave the premises, as repairs took several hours.
Trans-Atlantic solution
Given the need to complete a large amount of outstanding work, managers from the three locations implemented the continuity plan that called for Shanghai- and London-based employees to work remotely, mostly from their homes, with New York staff picking up the balance of the workload.
“We quickly identified who would assume responsibility for the outstanding work, tapping our employees’ market-specific expertise to get the job done,” said Julie Willmott, DTCC manager of GCA London operations. “The remote staffs in Shanghai and London partnered with the New York team, working long hours to clear the backlog and meet our deadlines.”
The day’s events were another example of the value of having a tested, well-thought-out continuity plan in place, said Joseph Raniere, DTCC manager for GCA’s New York operations. “At the end of the day, we were able to complete all the work; we even managed to exceed our contractual targets for the day.” @