Banks spending more to ramp up defences against cyberthreats: Moodys

A survey conducted by global rating agency Moody's, covering as many as 240 banks, revealed that financial institutions are devoting more attention to cybersecurity due to its critical importance. "...Banks around the globe reveal firms are consistently increasing their investments, irrespective of size or credit strength, because of an escalating number of incidents," Moody's said in a report, titled '2023 Cyber Survey - Escalating cyber threats drive up budgets as banks fortify defences'.

Financial institutions are prime targets as they safeguard client wealth, facilitate transactions through payment networks and manage vast amounts of personal information. During the survey, Moody's found that financial institutions, large and small, have been steadily boosting cybersecurity's portion of the information technology (IT) budget in all regions since 2019. Firms in the US and Asia-Pacific have invested more than those in Europe, the Middle East and African (EMEA).

Faced with threats, financial institutions are commonly employing sophisticated cyber defence strategies. As per Moody's survey, around 80 per cent of the respondents' infrastructure remains on-premises as banks gradually migrate to cloud service and software providers with strong defence capabilities. Large banks have 65 per cent of their infrastructure on-premises and aim to cut this figure to 55 per cent within the next year. Banks in North America are the most advanced in this process, with more than 30 per cent of their IT infrastructure on the cloud, while those in Europe, the Middle East and African (EMEA) region have only 10 per cent. About three-quarters of respondent banks carry standalone cyber insurance, the survey found.

Incident insurance is most prevalent in North America, with 97 per cent reporting coverage, compared with 55 per cent in Asia Pacific. The most common incidents covered by these policies include ransom payments, legal settlements, regulatory fines and reputational damage. Further, Moody's survey also revealed financial institutions have dedicated more senior officials' attention to cybersecurity than other sectors and have stronger governance over this issue.