Financial institutions at risk of cyber trouble if they can’t understand cross-border regs.

As cyberattacks become more sophisticated and cut across borders, Deloitte warns that cyber security regulation in the APAC region remains fractured and localised, with no significant moves toward harmonisation. This in turn could pose greater risks for multinational financial institutions (FIs).

“FIs struggle to understand the regulatory idiosyncrasies at country level, to be cognisant of emerging threats and to design cyber risk programs that are coherent and robust across jurisdictions,” the firm said in its recently published Cyber regulation in Asia Pacific report.

It added that a lack of cooperative regulation reflects the economic and socio-cultural variety in the region, the significantly differing technological capabilities, and the geopolitical concerns unique to each country.

“Only those FIs who have robust cyber security and cyber risk management will be in a position to retain customers, trust and a competitive edge,” it added.

A dearth of cybersecurity professionals also poses another risk for financial institutions, as those who work in the industry “may have difficulty staying up to date with the pace of change in the cyber landscape”.

Deloitte said businesses operating in countries that have more advanced ICT infrastructure and a bigger digital economy face greater cyber risks. A separate report released last year found that Australia, Japan, Korea, and Singapore were nine times more vulnerable to cyber-attacks than other Asian economies.


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