Cyberattacks, not economy, could cripple banks in the future
The next major industry shock the banking sector will face could be cybercrime rather than economic issues, according to consultancy firm KPMG.
The Bank Performance Benchmarking Report says that the banking industry has addressed a number of problems caused by the 2008 recession, with the U.K.'s top five banks "starting to get back on track."
Although investment health is still only half of what it was in 2005, lending and deposits grew in the first half of 2013. Cyberattacks and the threat of digital warfare mean that financial institutions may be left unprotected and vulnerable -- which in turn places consumers at risk and could potentially damage these signs of growth. Cybercrime -- something U.S. officials consider a national security problem more serious than terrorism -- could result in a "new breed of cyberattack," KPMG says. Banks have seen a 12 percent rise in online account fraud in the past year, and both U.K. and U.S. banks suffered outages due to hacktivists in 2012.
