Cybersecurity & Financial Resilience
- The Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC), chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, met to discuss cyber resilience in the financial sector.
- It emphasized the need for a financial sector-specific cybersecurity strategy.
- This aligns with the recommendations of the Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) 2024–25, which reviews risks and preparedness in financial systems.
Relevance : GS 2 (Governance ) ,GS 3(Economy ,CyberSecurity)
Key Cybersecurity Concerns
- FSDC reviewed:
- Existing cybersecurity regulations.
- Sectoral preparedness of financial institutions (banks, NBFCs, markets).
- The goal is to enhance real-time threat response, incident reporting, and resilience in an increasingly digital financial ecosystem.
Ease of Compliance & Regulatory Reforms
- The council explored ways to reduce regulatory burden and streamline compliance.
- It discussed introducing common KYC norms, especially to:
- Simplify onboarding for investors (including NRIs).
- Promote uniformity across regulators like RBI, SEBI, IRDAI.
Unclaimed Assets
- FSDC also addressed the issue of large amounts of unclaimed assets (like deposits, dividends, insurance amounts).
- It recommended:
- Reducing such unclaimed amounts through proactive communication.
- Enabling seamless refunds to legitimate claimants.
Institutional Role of FSDC
- FSDC is a high-level body that coordinates inter-regulatory policy issues and monitors systemic risks.
- It includes heads of RBI, SEBI, PFRDA, IRDAI, and other financial regulators.
- Its recent focus includes:
- Cyber threats, digital governance.
- Inter-regulatory harmonization.
- Protection of financial consumer interests.
