Fabio Panetta, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), recently provided introductory remarks to the Euro Cyber Resilience Board for pan-European Financial Infrastructures (ECRB), focusing on cyber risks and the integrity of digital finance.

In today’s context of the pandemic which has accelerated current trends towards work-from-home, online shopping, contactless and cashless payments, Panetta highlighted the role played by financial market infrastructures in accompanying the digital transformation, adapting to new needs in the society and the economy.

From the perspective of the payment systems, this digitalisation also brings risks, notably cyber risk. Panetta discussed the growing factors that are increasing financial market infrastructures’ vulnerabilities to cyberattacks, including increasing use of digital services, widespread reliance on technology, growing use and interconnectedness of third-party products and services. Cyber attacks have been singled out as the number one risk for the global financial system.

The cyber threat landscape for financial market infrastructures is complex. With rising sophistication and frequency of attacks, Panetta expressed the constantly growing potential impact of cyber attacks.

Panetta calls for the industry to proactively tackle cyber threats, intensify efforts, remain vigilant and continuously maintain the highest level of resilience as the financial damage and reputational impact are far higher than the monetary costs of improving cyber resilience.

For more information on Cyber Intelligence and Information Sharing Initiative (CIISI-EU) which facilitates the sharing of cyber intelligence and best practices:

https://www.ecb.europa.eu/paym/groups/euro-cyber-board/shared/pdf/ciisi-eu_practical_example.pdf