Fintech Consortium To Tackle Cybersecurity Issues

Hewlett Packard Enterprise, along with a number of leading names in the financial services sector, have banded together to create a new consortium designed to improve the cybersecurity of financial technology (fintech) companies.

The as yet unnamed consortium is being led and managed by the World Economic Forum (WEF), and will work with the WEF’s new Geneva-based Global Centre of Cybersecurity to develop a points-based scoring system for fintech firms.

The move comes amid the threat to the financial sector, which is increasingly integrating more fintech solutions into their everyday services offering.

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The WEF-led consortium will develop a set of cyber security standards that fintech companies can sign up to.

The group was apparently founded as a result of a meeting held by the World Economic Forum last year to promote cooperation between the public and private sectors.

The WEF published a separate whitepaper, Innovation-Driven Cyber-Risk to Customer Data in Financial Services, which describes in detail the goals of the new group

These goals include developing common principles for cybersecurity assessments, guidance for implementation, a point-based scoring framework, and guidance on improving an organisation’s score.

Founding members of the consortium include Citigroup, online lender Kabbage, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, Zurich Insurance Group and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

“Cyber breaches recorded by businesses have almost doubled since 2013 and the estimated cost of cybercrime is $8 trillion (£5.7tn) over the next five years,” said Mario Greco, CEO of Zurich Insurance Group is quoted as saying by SecurityWeek. “We expect the consortium to help adopt best cybersecurity practices and reduce the complexity of diverging cyber regulation around the world.”

The fintech sector in the UK has seen a surge in funding of late, despite concern about Britain’s decision to exit the European Union.

Last year the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow launched the UK’s fintech course to help students obtain a masters degree in Financial Technology.

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