Baptiste Morin, edited by Laura Laplaud
08:41, December 08, 2022modified to
09:07, December 08, 2022
This is the subject that animates many conversations: load shedding. In the event of excessive electricity consumption, the French could suffer power cuts for a maximum of two consecutive hours and several sectors could be impacted. How to withdraw money from an ATM without electricity? Response elements.
Banking is one of the sectors best prepared to face the risks of load shedding. These possible power outages still raise a large number of questions about their consequences. Are we ready, for example, to last two hours without power? How will we pay or withdraw money? Are the banks in the starting blocks? Response elements.
All banking activities depend on electricity
Entrance locks, ATMs, financial operations… All banking activities depend on electricity. No less than 800 transactions take place every second in France. So obviously, the threat of load shedding raises fears of the worst. But the banking sector is one of the best prepared.
Generators, back-up batteries, redundant servers… Banks are critical infrastructures. The law therefore forces them to organize themselves to ensure the continuity of their activities, whether in the event of a pandemic, natural disasters, cyberattacks or technological failure.
At least 96 hours of battery life
“The generators that supply data centers are guaranteed to operate beyond 2 hours of scheduled load shedding,” explains Charles Cuvelliez, Professor at the Brussels Polytechnic School and Director of IT Systems Security at the Belgian bank Belfius. “I have the figure in mind of 96 hours which is a recognized standard.” On the agency side, the risk is limited to a temporary closure. And if ATMs were affected, the French Banking Federation indicates that 48,000 ATMs are present in France. A working vending machine should therefore be nearby.
Source: Europe1
I am a journalist who writes about economics and business. I have worked in the news industry for over 5 years, most recently as an author at Global Happenings. My work has focused on covering the economy news, and I have written extensively on topics such as unemployment rates, housing prices, and the financial crisis. I am also an avid reader and have been known to write about books that interest me.
