The Financial Sector Cloud Resilience Forum, established in April 2023 by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), brings together Asia-Pacific financial regulators and major Cloud Service Providers (CSPs) to enhance public cloud risk management practices.

On November 6, 2024, the Forum conducted a groundbreaking crisis management tabletop exercise, the first of its kind in the region. The exercise simulated a severe public cloud disruption affecting multiple financial sectors, providing a valuable platform for members to refine their incident response strategies and supervisory interventions.

This exercise highlighted the importance of collaboration between financial regulators and CSPs during crises. It enabled participants to deepen their understanding of each other's incident response protocols, improve situational awareness, and align decision-making processes. The simulation also emphasized the need for coordinated recovery efforts to mitigate disruptions and maintain trust in the financial system. Key financial authorities involved included regulators from Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Singapore, alongside global CSPs Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.

Vincent Loy, Assistant Managing Director (Technology) at MAS and Chairperson of the Forum, stressed the importance of such initiatives in the evolving digital landscape. “Cloud adoption is set to increase as the financial industry presses ahead with digital transformation. This inaugural exercise is timely as it helps to strengthen processes for responding to major public cloud incidents. Both financial authorities and CSPs have gained deeper insights into how to coordinate effectively, ensuring public confidence in the financial sector,” he stated.