America's biggest banks are joining forces to combat the growing threat from cybercriminals, setting up a group that will work on preparing for attacks and improving information sharing, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The group of eight includes Bank of America,Bank of New York Mellon, Citi, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, State Street, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase, which in 2014 saw crooks breach its systems and steal the personal information of 76 million customers.
The members are already part of a massive collection of 7000 financial institutions that share information about cyber-threats but have decided to form their own group because they feel that their size and complexity make them bigger targets, says the Journal.
The new arrangement is still being thrashed out but is expected to see members collaborate on how to respond to attacks and carry out war games.
In May, in the wake of the recent Swift-related attacks, US Securities and Exchanges Commission chair Mary Jo White described cyber hacking as the biggest risk facing the world's financial markets.
With the big banks facing attacks on a daily basis they have upped their cybersecurity spending but have been uneasy about the new Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, says the WSJ. The law is designed to make it easier for government and banks to share details of threats but banks say that it adds bureaucracy and opens up legal concerns.