US Treasury to back pandemic response exercise

WASHINGTON DC – The US Treasury Department is to sponsor an industry-wide exercise this autumn of the American financial services sector’s preparedness for a pandemic crisis, such as an avian flu outbreak.

Although not directly administered by the Treasury or by any of the US regulators, the test is a significant first step toward government intervention in an issue that has crept up the regulatory agenda in recent years.

Officially titled The Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure