The annual SWIFT Chairpersons’ Meeting on the Sunday before Sibos provided a clear opportunity to demonstrate collective resolve in addressing the challenges of cyber-crime.
The SWIFT Chairpersons Meeting on Sunday 25th September provided a valuable
opportunity for the community to consult face-to-face on key is sues.
The SWIFT Chairperson’s Meeting has traditionally provided a flavour of the issues that are top of mind of Sibos participants. True to this tradition, the question of cyber-security topped the agenda at this year’s gathering. Opening the meeting, Alain Raes, chief executive, EMEA and APAC, SWIFT, noted that in a multi-polar, connected world, advances in technology also open up new opportunities for criminals to benefit. “SWIFT is playing a leading role in addressing the problem,” he said.
This was confirmed by SWIFT chairman, Yawar Shah, who devoted his address to the issue of cyber-security. “Our community is under attack,” he stated bluntly. Since its inception, he noted, SWIFT has protected its core, while banks took care of protecting their SWIFT credentials. The need to secure the entire SWIFT ecosystem is now a critical priority, Shah indicated, pointing to the approval by the SWIFT Board the previous day of the next stage of the Customer Security Programme (CSP). “We are at an inflection point for our industry,” Shah said.
While confirming SWIFT’s commitment to support, engage and lead in this endeavour – “in some cases faster than you may want” – Shah stressed that the community also had to step forward to tell SWIFT what tools it would find helpful.
Pointing to the complexity of the security challenge, with malware now often designed for a single fraud, Gottfried Leibbrandt, CEO, SWIFT, said the collective effort was really about three things: “You; your counterparts; and the community as a whole.” Much of the process required to secure one’s own environment, he described as ‘basic hygiene’. To assist in this, he noted, SWIFT will introduce a set of security controls and a system of self-attestation, the results of which will be shared and reinforced by selected internal and external audits. He announced that SWIFT would be launching a customer validation period from November onwards.Leibbrandt stressed the role of the existing Relationship Management Appli¬cation (RMA) in securing relations with counterparties on the SWIFT network. Finally, he added, it was essential that in the event of a breach at any one customer, all relevant information should be shared with SWIFT, which would anonymise it and share it with the entire SWIFT community.
The SWIFT community can expect these collective efforts to evolve as the sophistication of criminal attacks increases. As Craig Young, CTO, SWIFT put it, “Our best is good enough for today. Tomorrow we must be better.”
Innovation continues
At the same time, Leibbrandt stressed, “The world goes on.” The cooperative’s support for and engagement with innovation would continue. SWIFT would leverage innovation to deal with the threat of cyber-crime, while harnessing technological advances to enhance and strengthen day-to-day SWIFT activities, including in the areas of correspondent banking and compliance.
SWIFT2020, the cooperative’s strategic plan to take it to the end of the decade, involves nothing less than the transformation of the world of correspondent banking through what Christian Sarafidis, CMO, SWIFT described as “innovation on top of existing rails.” （News source：SWIFT）
