SEC says cybersecurity biggest risk to financial system

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White is interviewed at Reuters Financial Regulation Summit in Washington, U.S. May 17, 2016. REUTERS/Gary Cameron

WASHINGTON: Cybersecurity is the biggest risk facing the financial system, the chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said, in one of the frankest assessments yet of the threat to Wall Street from digital attacks. 

Banks around the world have been rattled by a $81 million cyber theft from the Bangladesh central bank that was funnelled through SWIFT, a member-owned industry cooperative that handles the bulk of cross-border payment instructions between banks.