2025 ICI Operational Resiliency Tabletop Exercise -Service Provider Disruption: After-Action Report
The asset management industry relies on a complex web of service providers, creating layered outsourcing models that include fourth-party vendors—often unseen until disruptions occur. While cloud computing offers scalability and efficiency, it also expands operational risk by introducing dependencies beyond direct oversight. A failure at this level can cascade across firms, causing widespread operational breakdowns. To address these vulnerabilities, the 2025 ICI Operational Resiliency Tabletop Exercise, hosted by Charles Schwab in Denver, simulated a prolonged outage at AlphaPrime Trust Company caused by its fourth-party vendor, CoreDataX. The disruption affected critical processes such as trade matching, settlement, and client reporting, engaging 42 firms and over 50 participants to examine fourth-party risk and strengthen resilience beyond traditional cybersecurity concerns.