Connecting the dots: Resilience, risk and resolution

Nita Kohli

Two of the most precarious years of financial instability in US history were 2001 and 2008. The former experienced the worst terrorist attack on US soil, while the latter involved the most devasting financial crisis that many of us had ever experienced. What ensued was a global meltdown across the financial industry. With each crisis comes the opportunity to learn, adapt and become more resilient. Across the globe, we continue to experience similar events as the threat landscape intensifies.

Earlier in this book we discussed the foundational aspects of operational resilience, examining its key components and fundamentals. Additionally, we explored the relationship between financial resilience and operational resilience, recognising their convergence and overlap in strategic planning, preparedness and response to major events or crises. This chapter will not analyse the cause of past events, but instead will refer to the past while pursuing and advocating for the fundamental shift in mindset required to strengthen our individual firms and the financial industry. From a global and domestic standpoint, we are facing never-ending threats – from the effects of the pandemic and global