In a keynote speech, European Central Bank Executive Board member Piero Cipollone set out how the ECB views financial sector resilience in an environment of heightened geopolitical, technological and climate risks, framing it as protecting critical functions such as payments, market infrastructure and bank intermediation. He described a dual role for the central bank, strengthening private sector resilience through supervision and oversight so that backstops are rarely needed, while remaining ready to provide liquidity and keep payment and settlement systems operating in acute stress. Cipollone pointed to recent disruptions to illustrate the speed and scale of modern shocks, including the 28 April 2025 power blackout in the Iberian Peninsula, when digital payments collapsed and cash withdrawals surged, and the March 2023 Silicon Valley Bank run of USD 42 billion in a single day. He argued that Europe’s payments resilience also has a strategic dimension, citing that 65% of card payments in the euro area are processed by two non-European companies and that 13 of the 20 euro area countries rely entirely on international card schemes, alongside the rapid growth of mobile payment apps to nearly 10% of retail transactions. On cyber risk, he noted that the number of cyber incidents reported to the ECB by significant banks doubled between 2022 and 2024 and referenced the ECB’s 2024 cyber resilience stress test of 109 banks, work on macroprudential cyber stress testing, and coordination via the Euro Cyber Resilience Board for pan-European Financial Infrastructures. The speech also highlighted operational resilience expectations for infrastructures and payment arrangements, the role of TARGET Services and TIPS as settlement backbones, and the continued role of cash, while presenting a digital euro as an additional safeguard for digital retail payments through multi-region continuity set-up and offline functionality. Looking ahead, Cipollone linked the growing importance of instant payments infrastructure to the requirement for payment service providers to offer instant payments from 9 October 2025.
European Central Bank 2025-09-17
European Central Bank sets out financial resilience priorities including cyber stress testing and a digital euro backstop
In a keynote speech, ECB Executive Board member Piero Cipollone emphasized the ECB's role in enhancing financial sector resilience amid geopolitical, technological, and climate risks. He highlighted disruptions like the Iberian Peninsula blackout and Silicon Valley Bank run, stressing Europe's payments resilience. Cipollone discussed rising cyber incidents, ECB's cyber resilience stress tests, and the importance of instant payments infrastructure, mandating payment service providers to offer instant payments by 9 October 2025.