Swift Publishes Cybersecurity Counterparty Risk Guidelines

On February 15, 2019, the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication ("SWIFT") published guidelines for assessing cybersecurity counterparty risk for financial institutions (the "Guidelines"). The Guidelines are important because the SWIFT banking and payments network is a key target for malicious actors. Financial services institutions thus have strong incentive to view ensure the Guidelines are implemented globally in order to minimize cybersecurity risk.

The Guidelines are non-binding and SWIFT has limited enforcement powers against member institutions. Nevertheless, they are legally significant. Compliance with cybersecurity best practices and industry standards is a common term in cyberinsurance contracts. An organization's ability to claim under a cyberinsurance policy in the event of a cyber incident may thus be impacted by implementation of the Guidelines. Furthermore, information about cybersecurity compliance (or noncompliance) is also