The Bank’s own payments system disaster recovery operations have been strengthened in recent years. In February 2011, the Bank established an office in Auckland as a full back-up to its payments and financial markets operations. There is fail-over capability to Auckland should Wellington’s operations be disrupted, and vice versa. Hardware, database and software back-ups exist for the most critical systems.
The Bank’s BCP programme is extensive and regularly tested. The Reserve Bank, whilst perhaps better known for its monetary policy responsibilities, is a bank. It operates financial, lending and investment functions that are similar in a number of respects to those of commercial banks. And it holds and disburses cash, lots of it, albeit almost entirely to intermediaries rather than the public directly.