Global finance pros pick cyber risk as number-one worry

Nearly half (46 percent) of global financial services professionals named cyber risk as their number-one concern, a record-high level of concern, according to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation’s (DTCC) most recent Systemic Risk Barometer Survey.

Eighty percent of respondents cited it as one of their top five risks, along with geopolitical risk and regulatory risk, and overall, cybersecurity concerns have nearly doubled in only one year, according to DTCC.

“Cyber security threats continue to grow each and every day, as attackers become more sophisticated,” stated Mark Clancy, managing director at DTCC and CEO of Soltra. “With cyber security identified as the industry’s top risk, it is critical that we develop and implement solutions that enable the timely sharing of data to prevent incidents as well as to promote faster incident detection and response.”

Of the respondents, 29 percent said the chance of a “high-impact event” affecting the global financial system has increased over the last six months, compared to 13 percent who thought the risk decreased.

There may be cause for optimism, however, as 73 percent of respondents said they have increased the resources devoted to identifying and mitigating systemic risks in the last year, a trend that DTCC said has grown stronger. This includes more investment in technology to prevent cyber attacks, by hiring for cybersecurity experts and placing more emphasis on training employees.

Threat data and information sharing among firms was highlighted as a primary goal for many organizations, which reported seeking “uninterrupted access to (threat) data,” said DTCC.

Sixty-five percent of finance professionals also felt that their firms’ ability to single out and manage new risks is “developing,” while 30 percent said they’ve attained “mature” risk management skills.

Mike Leibrock, managing director and chief systemic risk officer for DTCC added, “The industry remains committed to continuing to identify and respond to all types of risk that could create firm-level or systemic incidents. Market participants are not only concerned with the reputational damage that could be caused to their organizations, but also the reputational impact to the industry as a whole.”