At Sibos 2025 in Frankfurt, experts across multinational banks and fintech investigated the emergence of sophisticated cyber threats. Bad actors are using AI, quantum and machine learning to level off attacks, but can financial institutions fight fire with fire? The “Navigating the intersection of technology and financial security” panel explored how disruptive technology can affect the fraud situation.
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The panel, hosted by Julia Streets, founder and CEO of Streets Consulting UK, featured Leigh-Ann Russell, BNY's Chief Information Officer and Global Engineering Officer. Ole Matthiessen, Managing Director, Deutsche Bank Singapore. Mashrur Arefin, Managing Director and CEO of Citibank. Lisa Lee, CISO USA Global Lead of FSI in Microsoft's Office. Sudhir Pai, Chief Technology and Innovation Officer at Capgemini Australia.
Microsoft's Lee began debating AI, describing it as an “enhancement” to the cybersecurity team. Lee said it can make it easier for AI to visualize cybersecurity risks, and that its use in fraud detection and monitoring can reduce the time it takes to resolve issues.
“We can use AI to model what threat actors do in our environment. We can search for threat actors and indicators of compromise in ways we've never thought of before. We can ask Copilot and other AI tools about this vulnerability, the fragments of my environment, that might be at the most risk.”
“There's a cyberattack every 30 seconds,” Russell pointed out. It emphasized the seriousness of the threat. She said embedding AI anomaly detection in cybersecurity protocols is essential. She added that BNY is integrating AI throughout its operations to keep up with bad actors and establishing a single platform for mapping all customer connections and transactions.
Pie claimed that the strongest firewall for AI is “well-trained employees.” He detailed that the mainstream nature of AI can now be easily confused with social AI and enterprise AI.
“Unlike other technologies, AI is a very different way of interaction, so employees risk creating this additional layer of vulnerability.
The streets switched gears and asked if quantum is still a threat, and Lee replied that some technologies are taking and sticking to the industry, and others don't use metaverse as an example. She continued that there is future quantum applications and Quantum-Safe Cryptography, but she still doesn't believe there is quantum movement of mass.
In response to questions about legacy, Pai said he has begun to rethink the definition of legacy. “Legacy is not only viewing legacy as technology, but it's now becoming a mindset. It requires recognition. It requires training.
Moving conversations to resilience, Mattyssessen said that in the hyperconnected world, two important factors stand out when looking at resilience. The need to see things from an end-to-end perspective and the speed at which FIS bounces when something goes wrong.
Matthiessen added: “We need to look at it not just from a technology perspective, but as a design process. It's a way of searching for ways to design and find solutions so that they can ultimately be strengthened and enabled through all the rise of technology, but not purely focusing on the technology itself.”
Arefin agreed to Matthiesen at a rapid pace in the industry, adding, “Now is the age of microservices.” He continued that banks and cybersecurity teams should learn from the agility of bad actors, and that while the banks take weeks to run, they should learn by saying they are synchronizing and running operations in seconds. “There are different teams working together. When talking about resilience, how quickly can you get up if something breaks?”
Russell emphasized inter-industrial collaboration when echoing BNY CEO's phrase “Resilience Is Commercial.” She said there is always a cyber attack, but it requires investment in people. Banks need to be able to bounce back from cyberattacks, but to maintain momentum they need to trust a common framework and a shared data ecosystem.
“If there is an incident, we need to reconnect with each other. If we don't have that common framework and we don't invest in that common trust, it's impossible to establish a reconnection between them,” Russell said.
To close the panel, each speaker shared their thoughts on the future of emerging technologies' roles regarding the future of financial security, regarding the disruptive potential of AI and quantum, the need for active industry leaders, and the possibility that continuous learning could lead to cultural change.
