BANKS AND BROKERAGES meticulously consider all possible business threats, but nothing could have prepared them for the unexpected, massive terrorist attacks in New York and the ensuing aftermath.
Financial institutions lodged in the World Trade Centre - such as Morgan Stanley - are generally required by regulators to have plans to deal with natural disasters, crashed computer systems and malicious computer programmes, according to contingency planning experts.
One information technology manager pointed out that his Taiwanese bank was ready.
'Many banks are well prepared for disasters. It can be fire, earthquake, flood, tsunami, or bombs. We cannot tell. So all our data and business-critical systems have to be backed up somewhere. If we lose information, we lose money,' said the manager.
But even risk consultants, who have seen such problems hit their clients, have been staggered by the amount of damage inflicted, and all at the same time.
'Obviously, these guys have contingency plans in place. But for something like this?' said director and general manager Norris Hickerson of Hong Kong-based COL, which provides a back-up dealing room for clients.