FILIPE DINIS | Chief Operating Officer, Bank of Canada
Contributor: INDERPAL BAL | Special Assistant to the Chief Operating Officer, Bank of Canada

Parties in the Canadian financial sector share a high degree of interdependence and the threat landscape they face is ever changing. This means that an operational event, such as a cyber attack, affecting one institution can quickly spread to the wider sector. 

This article outlines some of the key elements of the Bank of Canada’s role in promoting the operational resiliency of the financial system and the excellent collaboration taking place within the Canadian financial sector to enhance its collective resiliency posture. 

The Bank of Canada believes that the broad issues of resilience and vulnerabilities require a broad response, at the core of which is greater collaboration and information sharing. This has led the Bank to establish and lead the Canadian Financial Sector Resiliency Group (CFRG) and the Resilience of Wholesale Payments Systems (RWPS) initiative. Together, these efforts offer a forum for coordinating a national sectoral response to systemic operational incidents. They help the industry benchmark controls and processes, regularly test with crisis simulations, and enhance sector data resiliency to cyber attacks.

The CFRG and RWPS contributions attest to the sector’s commitment to providing Canadians with a safer, more secure, and resilient financial system.