Corporates work on contingency planning as virus strikes

Crisis and contingency planning is in full swing at the nation’s largest companies.

Businesses are making contingency plans to prevent coronavirus disruption.

Crisis and contingency planning is in full swing at the nation’s largest companies as they think through and test the logistics of staff movements and business continuity if there is a large outbreak of coronavirus in Australia.

The banking regulator has been in constant contact with financial institutions, insurers and investment banks to ensure adequate contingency and operational plans are in place to keep the payments and financial system going in the event of a global pandemic.

Part of the planning centres on ensuring liquidity in the financial system should parts of Australia be heavily affected by coronavirus.

Sources said some financial companies would look to enact plans that would see the rotation of parts of key operational teams working from home, should the situation warrant it. Others have plans in place to relocate employees to back-up sites away from head office if needed to ensure business continuity.

Teleconferences and other meeting methods are being employed to restrict overseas travel.

An ASX spokesman said the exchange was planning for various “crisis scenarios” and working with the corporate regulator and the Reserve Bank, particularly on planning and preparedness matters.

“We are also engaging with industry associations and customers on their own arrangements,” he said. “As a market operator, we are closely monitoring market orderliness and the responsiveness of our risk management processes to changing customer exposures during the heightened volatility.

“ASX’s business continuity planning includes staffing protocols and practices across our Bridge Street (Sydney) and ALC (Australian Liquidity Centre in Gore Hill) locations and for those that might be working from home, that enable us to continue to operate our critical infrastructure.”

An ANZ spokesman said the bank’s response plan was designed to ensure the safety of staff and to enable banking services to be continued “as far as is practicable” if the coronavirus situation escalated here.

“In the regions ANZ operates that are most impacted by COVID-19, such as China, that plan includes teams being split and working in alternate locations to prevent potential spread,” the spokesman added.

“ANZ has restricted travelling internationally to contain any potential spread of COVID-19. Any staff who have returned from China have been required to self-quarantine following advice from health authorities.”

The contingency planning comes after Prime Minister Scott Morrison moved ahead of international health authorities to activate a ­pandemic plan and NSW health authorities on Monday confirmed the first case of person-to-person coronavirus transmission within Australia.

The infected person was a doctor at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital. Also on Monday, Tasmania recorded its first confirmed case of coronavirus.

Large companies are activating their own protection measures for staff including hygiene measures in customer-facing roles.

Separately, big miners including Rio Tinto and BHP have banned employees from travelling for work to coronavirus-affected areas, and have warned workers taking leave to pay attention to official advice issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade before heading overseas.

Last week, Rio chief commercial officer Simon Trott said the company had spoken to more than 200 of its customers about the potential impact of the virus. He said Rio was also actively preparing contingency plans for any impact on its own supply chain, including working to identify alternative suppliers for critical parts and supplies in case exports from China were interrupted for an extended period.

Rio said it was on high alert to ensure the workforce at its Mongolian copper mine, Oyu Tolgoi, stayed healthy given much of the food and day-to-day supplies for the massive operation came over the border from China.

It is believed major miners are also updating medical plans in case the virus is detected on remote mine sites, following the decision by China’s CITIC to temporarily isolate up to 20 workers within the camp at its Pilbara mine site in early February as a precautionary measure following their return from trips to China in January.

A Commonwealth Bank spokesman said the bank was “following closely” the advice and updates from the federal government and its related agencies to deal with the ongoing impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

“This has been factored into our own business continuity and crisis management planning,” he added. “Our own response has included, from the early stages, guidance and help to our staff both here in Australia and our international offices in Asia to ensure they are fully informed about what they should do and how we can continue to support them through this time with particular reference to the advice of the governments in impacted countries.”

A number of super fund giants have created internal working groups and the country’s biggest health insurers have assembled crisis management teams to deal with any fallout from the global epidemic.

The Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation has activated a pandemic plan.

“Our investment team has been, and continues to be, proactive in assessing and managing the potential risks that evolving conditions might imply for our members’ portfolios,” a spokesman said.

HSBC Australia is operating as normal but continues to monitor risks.

“Like all other businesses, we regularly review our business continuity plans to ensure we are well prepared to support our staff and customers,” a spokeswoman said.

However, last week’s sharemarket rout and jittery investors have not stymied AMP Bank’s first residential mortgage-backed securities issue for 2020. The $690m in notes were assigned a provisional rating by Moody’s Investors Service on Monday.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: Michael Roddan