With Hurricane Dorian bringing hurricane and tropical storm conditions to Florida’s coastline this morning and threatening other coastal areas as it moves north, the American Bankers Association is reminding bankers and state bankers associations of several resources to help with incident response and crisis communications.
Among other things, ABA offers state-by-state playbooks for banks in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, as well as information from the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center to help with incident response. ABA also urges all banks to join the FS-ISAC to receive members-only communications relating to disaster response and preparedness. ABA’s free, members-only Crisis Communications Toolkit also includes talking points, FAQs for frontline staff, communications to customers, consumer tips and sample news releases and social media posts for a disaster response situation.
Meanwhile, the OCC on Friday issued a proclamation allowing national banks and federal thrifts affected by the severe weather to close. The agency reiterated guidance intended to help banks facilitate recovery in the wake of natural disasters. State regulators in Florida and Georgia also authorized banks to close and issued guidance on emergency procedures.
