EBF STATEMENT

Stress test reaffirms the need for close cooperation between banks and supervisors to ensure cyber resilience

BRUSSELS, 26 July 2024 – The European Banking Federation (EBF) today shared its reaction to the first-ever cyber resilience stress test conducted by the European Central Bank (ECB). The exercise resulted in valuable learnings and reaffirmed the importance of cooperation between the banking sector and supervisors.   

The cyber resilience stress test, conducted on 109 directly supervised banks this year, assessed how banks respond to and recover from a cyberattack. The exercise confirmed that banks have cyber incident response and recovery frameworks in place and identified areas for improvement. 

Commenting on the findings, EBF Deputy CEO Sébastien de Brouwer said:  

“Ensuring the cyber resilience of the banking sector, especially within a broad and interconnected ecosystem, requires continuous and consistent efforts in a holistic approach. It includes constant re-assessment and adaptation of banks’ ability to mitigate cyber incidents and restore operations as soon as possible and with minimum impact. Given the evolving nature of cyber risks and threats, this exercise – which comes on top of other tests performed by banks themselves – offered a valuable learning opportunity for banks and authorities. The findings confirm that our sector has a high level of cyber maturity, which means it is well-prepared to defend against cyber threats and of that there is always room for improvement. Banks remain vigilant and committed to the continuous enhancement of their cyber resilience”.  

With private and public entities equally susceptible to cyber risks and with diverse actors being part of the supply and value chains in the financial ecosystem, the European Banking Federation stressed the importance of working in close partnership with the European Central Bank and all relevant authorities to ensure a high level of cyber resilience is maintained across Europe.

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For more information:

Rūta Barthet, EBF Senior Media and Communications Officer, r.barthet@ebf.eu

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About the EBF:

The European Banking Federation is the voice of the European banking sector, bringing together national banking associations from across Europe. The EBF is committed to a thriving European economy that is underpinned by a stable, secure and inclusive financial ecosystem, and to a flourishing society where financing is available to fund the dreams of citizens, businesses and innovators everywhere.