City firms ready in the event of bombing

London's financial sector has been testing its preparedness for terrorist attacks, natural disasters and widespread infrastructure damage.

More than 1,000 people from the Tripartite Authorities (HM Treasury, the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority) and 80 UK organisations took part in the test, which included simulations of car bomb attacks, casualties, market responses and news reports.

Companies taking part in the event yesterday also ran their own internal business continuity exercises alongside the main event.

The exercise, which was attended by officials from the EU and the US, was the largest ever market-wide test of its kind, the Financial Services Authority said.

The exercise was organised by the Tripartite Authorities who would be responsible for co-ordinating the markets' response to such an incident.

The City of London police, Canary Wharf Management and the London Resilience Team took part to make the day as realistic as possible.

Accounting firm KPMG will report early in 2006 on the effectiveness of the sector's preparations.