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Cyber attacks against banks have increased in numbers and
sophistication in recent years, raising questions on lenders'
capacity to protect their customers.
Seeking to reassure savers and strengthen financial stability,
several EU countries are conducting tests on banks' security
systems, but EU authorities warned national initiatives may be
less effective and more costly than a common EU approach.
"We want to avoid a proliferation of testing obligations that
operate in different countries," the EU commission's vice
president Valdis Dombrovskis told a conference in Brussels.
"We believe tests that meet comparable standards should be
recognized across borders," he added. This could pave the way
for common stress-tests carried out at EU level, as suggested by
EU officials in past weeks.
The call for higher cyber-security comes as the Commission
prepares a policy action plan on retail financial services, such
as insurance, loans and payments, that will be released in the
coming weeks.
Dombrovskis said the plan would encourage the use of remote
identification schemes, such as e-signature and
e-identification, to try to boost consumers' access to financial
services and lower costs.
It will also attempt to facilitate the take-up of new
technologies in the financial sector, where emerging fintech
companies are challenging traditional actors in a range of
services, including payments and insurance.
"Our focus should be on removing barriers to market entry and
keeping our legislation proportionate," Dombrovskis said, noting
that changes may create new risks that need to be addressed with
greater sharing of information among financial firms and common
testing of security systems.
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio; Editing by Keith Weir)
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