Citigroup[/tag], an investment management consulting firm, has announced an exit strategy and planning service to help firms curb risks of a forced or voluntary exit from an outsourcing agreement, following regulatory moves on this area.

Citisoft, an investment management consulting firm, has announced an exit strategy and planning service to help firms curb risks of a forced or voluntary exit from an outsourcing agreement, following regulatory moves on this area.

In its November 2013 thematic review into outsourcing, the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK regulator, warned firms about dangers of outsourcing vital operations without putting in place effective and timely business continuity plans. The FCA warned asset managers that they have inadequate contingency plans in place to deal with a failure of their service provider (aka “resilience risk2) and inadequate oversight of their service provider (“oversight risk”).

The firm said it has spotted a list of potential exit-planning options.

In a workshop with the asset manager’s senior management team, the consultancy will consider all of these options in both voluntary and forced exit scenarios. This will be followed by the development of detailed plans, documents and a recommended governance approach.

The Exit Planning service sits alongside Citisoft’s recently launched “KYO-40” (know your outsourcer) toolkit, a 40-day package designed to help asset managers fast-track their response to the FCA and other regulators’ growing concerns about outsourcing oversight and resilience.