Cyber Security Month: How Safe Are America’s Banks?

Over the past few weeks, we’ve pointed out that GRC (Governance, Risk, and Compliance) and ERM (Electronic Risk Management) have become major talking points in the finance industry. The heads of US financial institutions have been going out of their way to track down GRC experts, and reliance on compliance-friendly services has increased dramatically. A new report from Global Finance may explain why. FierceFinance.com took a look at the Global Finance list.

Indeed, Global Finance takes a look at the top 50 safest banks in the world. Unfortunately, there are only five U.S. banks in the top 50, and the highest ranking U.S. bank, Bank of New York Mellon, comes in at 29. Of the big national consumer banks, only Wells Fargo made the list, ranking 48, behind CoBank ACB, U.S. Bancorp, and Northern Trust.

Unfortunately, the data doesn’t look any better when you remove the 'global' element. According to Global Finance, “Canadian banks are the best performing in North America with seven banks in the top 50 compared to five from United States.”

The major threats making US banks unstable are in the realm of online crime and a lack of digital security. For example, US banks are being targeted by increasing numbers of international hackers referred to as ‘phishers.’ This particularly strategy of cybercrime involves building a clone of an online bank portal in an effort to trick users into supplying their account information. American banks have spent $3.3 Million this year in an effort to cull the threat. Another study, by KPMG, discovered that simply publishing a website is enough to give hackers all the tools they need to take down a financial institution.

The old adage goes, “Things need to get worse, before they get better.” These days, “worse” doesn’t seem too appealing. Join us next week, as we look at a few of the ways that banks are skipping the darkest, and heading straight for the dawn.

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