Former Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke urged banks to spend more on bolstering their cybersecurity to fend off increasingly sophisticated attacks by hackers to vulnerable international networks.
His comments follow high-profile hacks of major financial institutions such as JP Morgan and Standard Chartered. Bernanke underscored the vulnerability of the banking networks, which are rapidly digitizing, connecting to more banks and reaching across borders.
Cybersecurity fears have risen sharply among bankers, brokers and investors who cited increased an “frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks” since last year, during a survey conducted between January and March by market infrastructure firm Depository Trust Clearing Corp.
“It...