A government plan to impose stronger cybersecurity standards on the financial industry is taking aim at a much broader number of companies in the financial sector than had been expected.
The sweeping proposal issued this week by the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency would cover not only Wall Street giants but regional banks, credit card businesses, large insurers and clearinghouses.The public has until January 2017 to comment on the advanced version of the plan. Regulators will then issue a formal proposal and seek more comment before publishing a final rule.
The agencies have said that the plan would target the “largest and most interconnected entities” under their oversight. Some interpreted that to mean it would be limited to firms such as Goldman Sachs or Bank of America, whose failures could bring down the economy.
Instead, the proposal is broader and would subject to tougher requirements any financial company that take deposits and has at least $50 billion in assets.
