2  “Principles for the sound management of operational risk”, BCBS 2011. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  This systemic risk derives first from the dramatic development of interdependencies across financial intermediaries due to increased automation in financial activities, including in clearing and payment activities, which are a major vector of interconnection. The systemic risk also derives from the possible loss of confidence from the general public in electronic payments that would be triggered by a failure to protect the integrity and reliability of data processed by these payment systems. However, responses to cyber threats can conflict with other established priorities. This is particularly true for financial market infrastructures. For instance, the principle 17 of the CPSS-IOSCO on operational risk clearly states the business continuity requirements for financial market infrastructures. Business continuity plans should aim for the timely recovery of operations, resuming operations within two hours after disruption, and settlement should be ensured before the end of the day in extreme conditions. However, meeting this requirement is raising specific challenges in case of a cyber-attack or in case data is found to be corrupted, when the highest priority might no longer be a swift resumption of operations, but to first recover the quality and integrity of data in order to avoid any risk of contagion. This is also true for the access that could be granted to third parties for accessing online a payment account in order to assist in the initiation of payments.

Robert Ophèle: Cyber security in the financial sector Opening speech by Mr Robert Ophèle, Deputy Governor of the Bank of France, at the Conference “Cyber security in the financial sector”, Paris, 17 June 2014. *  *  *  Emmanuelle Assouan, Frédéric Hervo, Claudine Hurman, Caroline Keribin, Clément Martin and Axel Petitprez have also contributed to the preparation of this speech. Ladies and gentlemen, I am very happy to introduce this conference about cyber-security in the financial sector. This issue could be considered in the first place as very technical, the type of issue that has to be addressed only within a limited forum of experts. This would be an error and on the contrary, it is key that public authorities, including central banks, dedicate sufficient attention to cyber-security, given its system-wide implications notably for the functioning of the financial system. Over the past decade, the financial sector has changed considerably with the emergence of the Internet and the use of new information technologies. The market has been able to innovate and improve the quality, the performance and the efficiency of services such as online banking, mobile payments, and settlement platforms. Public authorities have indeed encouraged dematerialization in the financial sector to foster economic growth and also to reduce the operational risks inherent in previously non-automated processes. For example, the new European regulation on Central Securities Depositories requires using dematerialized securities and promotes automated and straight-through processes in securities settlement systems.