WASHINGTON-CUNA and NAFCU were present at the table with all the other key financial services trade associations-including the American Bankers Association, the American Council of Life Insurers, and the Securities Industry Association-during the second meeting of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for (FSSCC). The federal financial services regulatory agencies are also involved in a parallel group. The FSSCC's mission is to "foster and facilitate the coordination of financial services sector-wide voluntary activities and initiatives designed to improve Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security." Being only the second meeting, the first occurring in June, the meeting was used to organize the group, but it also mainly focused on information sharing in crisis and cyberspace security, as well as protection, according to attendees NAFCU President and CEO Fred Becker and CUNA Director of Compliance Information Val Moss. Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson opened the meeting, and Richard Clarke of the White House Office of Cyberspace Security addressed the luncheon. "The federal government has a lot of muscle behind this," Becker commented. Many scenarios were discussed, like "What do you do when there is an alert?" Moss said. She added that Ferguson indicated that he was pleased with the turnout and cooperation within the group. The meeting, which lasted all day, took place in the Fed's Martin Building, but it is under the auspices of the Treasury Department. The next meeting is to be scheduled near the end of February 2003. The council spun out of the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which was created in 1998 under Presidential Directive 63 to protect eight critical infrastructures in disaster, including oil and water and banking. -

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