Following the news that Metro Bank was hit by a cyberattack,

Bartosz Golba, Head of Wealth Management Research at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view on the subject:

“Despite a number of high profile data breaches across the world, it appears the UK financial services industry is not placing enough emphasis on cybersecurity and data protection. This is particularly visible in the private wealth management space. According to our 2018 Global Wealth Managers Survey, less than 35% of UK wealth managers are concerned about effect of data breaches on their company’s brand.

“This is surprising as different studies show that financial services is the industry with the highest frequency of data breaches and one with the highest data breach costs. Wealth management and private banking is where stakes are particularly high, as wealthy clients have above average account balances. The industry only recently has started to recognize benefits from technology, lagging behind other branches of financial services. It is clear that financial advisors have to catch up when it comes to understanding threats related to growing dependence on technology.

“Last year’s IT meltdown, which cost TSB millions of pounds, despite not being caused by a cyberattack, was one of the first warnings. Metro Bank’s issues are the latest example that no provider is really safe and exempt from cyber threats.”