Bank Failure Preparedness Training Course: Playbooks, Triggers and Critical Functions

Programme Summary

Bank failure preparedness, covering recovery options, resolution strategy and the continuity of critical functions, is the subject of this one-week training course for bank risk, treasury, finance and strategy executives and senior supervisors, ending in a playbook pack for one bank. Plans written for review often fail when stress arrives, because triggers are vague, critical functions are unmapped and nobody has tested the steps. The programme moves from early warning to recovery options, critical functions, resolution strategy and testing, using prepared bank cases. Mars Training Centre UK delivers this programme on bank failure preparedness to mixed-organisation cohorts.

The Business Case

A bank that cannot show how it would recover, or how it could be wound down without disorder, puts depositors, markets and its own owners at risk. Leaders who set clear triggers, know which services must never stop and rehearse decisions can act earlier and with more options, and give supervisors a plan that works in practice.

• Response Time: Shortens when triggers, owners and decision rights are agreed before stress.
• Continuity Exposure: Falls when critical functions and the systems and funding behind them are mapped.
• Plan Credibility: Improves when options are costed and tested in a rehearsal rather than described.

Principles and Evidence Base

• FSB Key Attributes of Effective Resolution Regimes for Financial Institutions: Applied in Sessions 1 and 3 to frame recovery and resolution planning and critical functions.
• Single point of entry and multiple point of entry strategies: Applied in Session 4 to compare how a banking group could be resolved.
• FSB guidance on developing effective resolution strategies: Applied in Sessions 4 and 5 to judge resolvability and continuity in resolution.

Intended Participants

• Risk leaders who own stress scenarios, indicators and the recovery plan.
• Treasury and finance leaders who manage liquidity, capital and funding options in distress.
• Strategy executives who weigh the sale or restructuring options in a recovery plan.
• Senior supervisors who review recovery and resolution plans and test their credibility.

Typical settings include retail and commercial banking, investment banking, banking supervision and financial stability functions.

Learning Outcomes

1. Participants will be able to evaluate early warning indicators and set recovery triggers with owners.
2. Participants will be able to compare recovery options by size, speed and feasibility under stress.
3. Participants will be able to diagnose which functions are critical and what systems and funding support them.
4. Participants will be able to construct a resolution strategy outline for a banking group.
5. Participants will be able to prioritise gaps in resolvability by impact and effort to close.
6. Participants will be able to justify a tested playbook pack to a board or supervisory review.

Programme Structure

Day 1: Bank Failure Preparedness and Early Warning

How does a bank see stress early enough to act?

• Failure Pathway Map
• Early Warning Indicator Set
• Stress Scenario Design
• Recovery Trigger Calibration
• FSB Key Attributes Reading

Day 2: Recovery Options and Their Limits

Which actions could restore the bank, and how quickly?

• Recovery Option Inventory
• Capital and Liquidity Action Sizing
• Disposal and Restructuring Screen
• Option Feasibility Rating
• Governance and Decision Rights Chart

Day 3: Critical Functions and Continuity

Which services must continue, and what keeps them running?

• Critical Function Identification
• Core Business Line Mapping
• Operational Dependency Map
• Funding and Access Continuity Review
• Management Information Readiness Check

Day 4: Resolution Strategy and Resolvability

How could the bank be resolved without disorder?

• Single Point of Entry Comparison
• Multiple Point of Entry Comparison
• Loss Absorption Sequence
• Separability Assessment
• Resolvability Gap Register

Day 5: Playbook Pack for One Bank

Do the findings join into a pack that works when tested?

• Applying the Session 1 Trigger Calibration
• Testing the Session 2 Option Feasibility Rating
• Checking the Session 3 Dependency Map
• Reviewing the Session 4 Gap Register
• Completing the Playbook Pack

Methodology

The programme is a simulation built on prepared records of two banks, one retail and one with a wholesale focus. Participants read indicators, trigger actions, choose recovery options and answer supervisory challenge in small groups as stress develops over a series of rounds, then defend their playbook pack to peers acting as a board and a review panel.

• Suggested activity: Running a staged stress round and deciding which trigger fires first.
• Suggested activity: Mapping the systems behind one critical function and finding the single point of failure.
• Suggested activity: Presenting a resolution strategy outline and answering challenge from a review panel.

Capstone Output

Each participant completes a playbook pack for one bank. It holds a trigger and indicator table, a ranked recovery option list, a critical function and dependency map, a resolution strategy outline and a rehearsal plan. At work it goes to the board for approval and becomes the reference for updating and testing the plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is bank failure preparedness training suitable for executives who have not written a recovery plan?

Yes. Bank failure preparedness is taught through prepared bank cases and templates. You need responsibility for risk, treasury, finance, strategy or supervision, but no earlier experience of recovery or resolution planning.

Which frameworks does bank failure preparedness rest on in this programme?

Bank failure preparedness here rests on the FSB Key Attributes of Effective Resolution Regimes for Financial Institutions, single and multiple point of entry strategies and FSB guidance on resolution strategies, each applied to a trigger, function or strategy decision.

How is the playbook pack from bank failure preparedness training used at work?

You take the playbook pack to your board or supervisory review, use its trigger table to agree owners and thresholds, and keep its rehearsal plan as the routine for testing the plan.

How does bank failure preparedness differ from a programme on bank capital management?

Bank failure preparedness concentrates on acting in distress, continuing critical functions and resolving a bank in order, while a bank capital management programme concentrates on measuring and planning capital ratios in normal conditions.