They must provide the tools for first responders to react quickly and investigate the source and impact of breaches, compromises and incidents. Most essentially, there is a need to balance the right mix of investments across prevention, detection and response capabilities vis-à-vis an organisation’s risk appetite. Not only are new and advanced tools needed to supplement existing protection solutions, but also new skills and culture need to be developed within existing security teams and the larger organization, more so within the ambit of digital financial services whereby regulatory compliance plays a major role in cybersecurity. 2/3  BIS central bankers' speeches  Regulatory compliance does not equal cybersecurity Regulations are designed to protect organisations, clients, and consumers against the potentially devastating consequences of cyber-attacks. Regulatory requirements for financial institutions have undeniably become tougher, and organisations are continuously burdened by the need to interpret what a fragmented global regulatory landscape means for their operations. Financial institution often find themselves chasing regulatory compliance, rather than leading independent security planning. Regulatory compliance by itself is not cybersecurity. When new cybersecurity requirements or frameworks are published, organisations must first determine their current security state and identify gaps. If routine testing and remediation are conducted, being compliant or meeting regulations should be easier to achieve. Of course, some parties will want or need to go above and beyond regulations. Too often, however, organisations find themselves in reactive mode.

More worryingly, we have seen major cyberattacks occurring globally which caused disruptions to essential financial services and destroy savings or financial assets that the underbanked depend on. Financial institutions are not only prime targets for cyberattacks but bear tremendous fiduciary and legal, regulatory, and compliance responsibility to protect customer data and privacy. Safeguarding trust in the formal financial system is now particularly important for the newly included grassroots. In financial services, the push for digital innovation, disruptive technologies, delivery of more personalized customer experiences, and seamless access to consumers for more inclusion continuously introduces new threats. Forrester Research calls this dynamic an “epic” battle between privacy and digital innovation, and predicted that by 2020 financial services and insurance companies expect to generate the biggest portion of their total sales from digital products, services, or items sold online. Alongside this drive toward digital business, many organisations rely on legacy IT systems that are expensive to maintain and susceptible to more vulnerabilities, greatly compounding the cybersecurity challenge. Importance of cybersecurity The current chairman, president and CEO of IBM, Ginni Rometty had described cybercrime as “the greatest threat to every profession, every industry, every company in the world.” While cybersecurity used to be considered an issue primarily for the IT folks, these days it is an agenda item for the entire C-Suite. What has really changed? It is not just the frequency of media reports on cybersecurity breaches. If anything, these are merely symptomatic of a larger shift underway.