François Villeroy de Galhau: Cybersecurity - coordinating efforts to protect the financial sector in the global economy

Conclusion by Mr François Villeroy de Galhau, Governor of the Bank of France, at the G7 2019 Conference, Bank of France, Paris, 10 May 2019.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First, I would like to thank the moderators and the panelists for their very rich comments and the very useful ideas. We are all convinced that cybersecurity of the financial sector will remain on our agenda for a long time. The challenge is no longer about gaining awareness anymore, but to find ways to intensify and rationalise our action.

Based on the discussions today, let me start with one pre-requisite - coordination - and then propose concrete steps and tangible actions to improve our coordination in three areas: I. Regulation and supervision; II. Information; III. Preparation.

A. Global threats, coordinated action

Panel 1 questioned the importance of cyber threats for the financial sector. There is a consensus that the level of cyber threats has never been so high, but at the same time, we must acknowledge that the capacity to anticipate attacks needs to be reinforced. Following an attack, we need to address the potential contagion issues to the entire financial system or the entire economy. This is why coordination is a pre-requisite, not an easy one but a necessary one. While remaining realistic, there will not be a "world organization for cybersecurity" for obvious reasons, including trust. Hence, coordination should be cross-jurisdictional.