WASHINGTON — A top House Republican has introduced a bill to prod the Federal Reserve to prioritize cybersecurity for the financial system.
Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., the ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee, introduced the Cybersecurity and Financial System Resilience Act of 2019, which would require the Fed to report annually to Congress on its efforts to defend against cyber threats.
“When our committee heard from the CEOs of America’s seven largest banks earlier this year, the majority of the CEOs cited cyberattacks as the foremost risk they faced,” McHenry said in a press release Tuesday. “We need to ensure the Fed is working with financial institutions, regulators, third party service providers, and government partners to ensure that all parties are appropriately prioritizing and safeguarding American’s most sensitive information and our financial system.”
The bill requires the Fed to submit a report to both the House Financial Services and Senate Banking committees with a “detailed explanation” on measures taken by the regulator to strengthen cybersecurity with respect to its own functions and its supervision of financial institutions.
The Fed would be required to report on what policies it has in place to prevent cyber attacks, as well as the staffing and deployment of resources for implementing those policies.
