An influential government panel said cybersecurity is the biggest threat facing Switzerland's finance industry.
Major cyber attacks like that on millions of U.S.-based Equifax users last year is a major risk for Switzerland – that is the conclusion from a government panel (in German) of academia and industry. The tiny, export-heavy Swiss economy relies on finance and related money business for as much as 15 percent of its gross domestic product, which means it commands attention at the highest level of government.
Because of its tradition of banking secrecy and data protection, Switzerland is fertile ground for cyber protection services. Payments service Swift reportedly has servers housed in Switzerland near the German border, and countless cybersecurity specialists like Israeli Cyverse have settled in the alpine nation.
The panel, which has largely dicated government policy for finance in recent years, issued several recommendations; one is being rolled out, while another two will be baked into Switzerland's wider cyber-risk strategy for 2018 to 2022, the government said.
Export-Heavy Economy
Other issues addressed in the recommendations include pension shortfalls, where a relatively high statutory conversion rate that underpins payouts will widen the wealth gap or force some into unhealthy risky investments, according to the panel.
The panel welcomed the adoptions of wider European financial market laws – a must for the Swiss economy's reliance on exporting services into the bloc. The panel also looked at market access, the Swiss capital market, money-laundering, and automatic data-sharing agreements which came into force this month with 38 foreign nations.
Switzerland's financial marketplace has changed so dramatically in recent years that the government three years ago largely deferred policymaking to the panel, which is led by respected academic and government official Aymo Brunetti.
