Technology increasingly present in the banking sector and greater attention to computer security. The European Central Bank has announced that he will lead his own in 2024 first stress test on cybersecurity to assess the preparedness and resilience of credit institutions in Europe. Supervisors will then use the findings to identify potential weaknesses and gaps, ensuring that banks adequately address real cyber threats. It was announced Andrea Enrico, outgoing president of the Supervisory Board of ECB, in a hearing at the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Parliament in Brussels.
Enria: "banks must better address cyber risk"
"The banks must better address cyber risk improving its operational frameworks. To verify the banks' position in this regard, we will carry out a stress test on r in 2024IT exile for all supervised banks. The test will be the first of its kind and will focus on how banks' response and recovery mechanisms might cope in the event of a serious but plausible cyber attack. The supervisory authorities will review the results to identify any potential weaknesses and shortcomings and will ensure that banks remedy them to withstand real attacks,” Enria explained during the hearing.
Cyber risk
The pandemic has accelerated digital transformation, leading to notable changes in people's behavior anduse of digital tools for the 'access to banking services. A change that took many people and institutions by surprise. The digitalisation of banking activities, the use of advanced technologies in branches and remote consultations have also led to an increase in cyber attacks directed at customers of banking services, in addition to the banking structures themselves.
Le European banks are increasingly exposed to the risk of cybercrime, due to the complexity resulting from the combination of old and new technological systems. According to a report by S&P Global Ratings entitled "Cyber Risk Insights: European Banks' IT Complexity Amplifies Risk” Although the banking industry and regulators are trying to respond to threats, cyber resilience remains a difficult goal for the sector to achieve.
The S&P report highlighted an increase in the risk of cybercrime for European banks, rising from 21,8% in 2020 to 22,6% in 2022. main risks include direct financial losses, compromise of sensitive data, business damage due to loss of trust and risks related to regulatory fines.
From this perspective, the ECB's choice to consider the IT preparation of a bank a central element when evaluating your creditworthiness.
