Designing and Implementing Scenario Exercises

Workshop overview:

This workshop provides practical, proportionate guidance for small and midsized UK Finance firms looking to strengthen their scenario design and testing capabilities across cyber, third-party, and operational resilience risks.

Through a mix of sector insights, structured learning and hands-on activities, participants will explore how to identify priority risks, build realistic scenario narratives, plan and run effective exercises, and translate lessons learned into meaningful improvements. Designed for senior managers, operational leads, resilience practitioners, and colleagues involved in governance or incident response, the session supports organisations at every stage of their resilience journey - from those just beginning to build their scenario testing approach to those seeking to enhance and embed mature practices.

This workshop is for UK Finance Full Members only.

Learning outcomes:

By attending this workshop, participants will be able to:

define clear objectives and scope for scenario testing based on their organisation’s risk landscape, regulatory requirements, and maturity
apply CMORG tools, including the Strategic Risk Register and Scenario Library, to select and adapt suitable, “severe but plausible” scenarios for smaller firms
plan and coordinate the logistics of running a scenario test, including communication flows, stakeholder engagement, rules of play, and exercise control
execute a scenario test confidently, using proportionate and practical approaches informed by sector case studies
evaluate exercises effectively, gathering evidence, producing lessons learned, and identifying actionable improvements to strengthen resilience
build internal buy in for ongoing scenario testing and embed a continuous improvement mindset across the organisation.

Area of expertise:

Payments, innovation & resilience

Tags:

Risk

Laura Catterick

Director, Resilience and Cyber, UK Finance

Laura joined UK Finance in August 2024 as Director, Resilience and Cyber, and is responsible for the development and delivery of sector specific strat...

Laura joined UK Finance in August 2024 as Director, Resilience and Cyber, and is responsible for the development and delivery of sector specific strategies, maintaining active senior-level engagement with government, regulators, consumer advocates and policy makers on a range of issues to ensure the resilience of the financial services sector, which is critical to the stability of UK markets and the broader economy. This includes delivery of improvements via the Cross Market Operational Resilience Group (CMORG), and its sub-groups, and ensuring an efficient execution UK Finance’s Sector Response Framework (SRF) responsibilities during a systemically important operational disruption. Laura started her career as a Chartered Accountant at Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers, specialising in technology audits and consulting engagements. Laura has significant experience and expertise in Operational Resilience and Cyber Security and has held a number of senior roles at Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, and Vocalink across a variety of disciplines including Risk Management, Transformation and Major Change Programmes, Operations, and Cost and Vendor Management.

This workshop is designed for UK Finance small and mid-sized firms, including:

Senior managers and directors
Risk, compliance, technology, and operational leads
Those responsible for cyber, third-party or operational resilience
Individuals supporting governance, incident management, or continuity planning
The session is suitable for firms at all stages of developing operational resilience capabilities, including those early in their scenario testing journey.