Switzerland's top banking lobbyist reveals how government is helping financial institutions combat cyber crime, and lifts the veil financial market access in the U.K.

Switzerland’s bank lobby is working with several key financial players to launch a National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), led by the Swiss government, according to an interview in «Neue Zuercher Zeitung» (behind paywall, in German) with its chair Marcel Rohner on Wednesday.

The NCSC, which will be launched next year, will allow participants to share insights in regard to cyber threats and to address prevention measures. The organization includes regulator Finma, the Swiss stock exchange SIX, and the Swiss National Bank.

Fighting Cyber Attacks 

Back in the day, criminals faced a lot of risk, but today it doesn’t cost them almost anything to try to rob a bank digitally, Rohner noted. «That's why they are constantly getting bombarded with cyber attacks,» he says.

Rohner also points out that protecting customer data has always been a key priority for the financial industry, making them well-equipped to combat such attacks. The chair said that the withholding tax reform, which proposes to get rid of withholding tax on bond interest, could bring back a substantial part of business which has gone abroad.

Free Market Access

Switzerland’s financial center has tough competitors with similar interests in Singapore, London and Hong Kong’s financial centers, he says, «a reason to facilitate free market access to each other.» Rohner expects an agreement with the U.K. on market access in 2022, he says.

Rohner took over the position at the trade group six weeks ago after sitting on its board for the past three years. The 57-year-old, who served UBS as CEO from during the financial crisis, brushed aside concerns that the association is unable to serve the interests of all Swiss banks equally, saying that members were overwhelmingly content. 

In the past, the Swiss Bankers Association, which aims to represent all Swiss financial players, including insurers, equally, has faced concerns of too much regulation and bureaucracy. It also struggles with diverging interests among its export-oriented institutions and its domestic ones. The trade group lost a prominent member in Raiffeisen earlier this year.