The rapid adoption of generative and agentic artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing and edge computing is transforming the digital landscape while introducing unprecedented cybersecurity complexity. These innovations, while enabling agility and scalability at large financial institutions to protect resources and assets, simultaneously expands the attack surfaceand exposure to new vulnerabilities and threat vectors.
According to the World Economic Forum’s 2025 Global Cyber Security Outlook, nearly 60% of organisations state that geopolitical tensions have affected their cybersecurity strategy. Geopolitical turmoil has also affected the perception of risks, with one in three CEOs citing cyber espionage and loss of sensitive information and intellectual property (IP) theft as their top concern, while 45% of cyber leaders are concerned about disruption of operations and business processes.
With global financial institutions, like Standard Chartered, holding the unique responsibility as guardians of digital trust, and as adversaries deploy more sophisticated technology, it is incumbent on us to adopt a systematic, preemptive strategy to cybersecurity – one that blends human accountability with automated execution.
As cyber threats grow, AI is the most immediate disruptor. Global financial institutions operating across multiple jurisdictions, such as Standard Chartered, are already embracing it for risk management, productivity, and client experience. With threat actors embracing AI-based tools that accelerate the pace and scale of attacks, defenders can use AI to automate detection, prioritise intelligently and remediate at machine speed.
What this requires is a systematic process of preemptively addressing threats with secure-by-design practices, robust validation and testing, and strong data governance – at our bank, this includes a Data Risk Committee reporting into the Board. This ensures our AI outcomes are explainable, unbiased, and accountable.
Simplifying and updating critical legacy platforms amid rapid innovation cycles becomes more complex when navigating over 50 regulatory regimes. We manage this by ensuring regulatory compliance is embedded into our design and build, not retrofitted at the end, so we meet new standards proactively. By tiering and prioritising risks, we ensure critical platforms are modernised with layered controls and accelerated remediation measures to enhance resilience.
According to the WEF’s report, AI can give defenders the upper hand if they can keep up with the pace of AI integration and capability building. Simply put, AI can augment human abilities, making cyber defence stronger and more efficient if we are prepared to upskill our people.
Keeping up with technological advances requires specialised skills. This is why we have prioritised upskilling and reskilling our employees to help safeguard the Bank from emerging AI-enabled threats such like deep fakes and impersonation.
Our AI Learning Hub, a platform that democratises AI awareness and knowledge building, provides global colleagues access to immersive learning opportunities, interactive simulations and practical case studies, as well as AI thought leaders and experts. Additionally, in 2024 over 71,000 colleagues actively used our global online learning platform with some 38,000 – 40% of the workforce – participating in one or more of our Future Skills Academies focused on Cyber, Data & Analytics and Digital skills.
Quantum computing is the long-term paradigm shift. Although viable post-quantum cryptography computers do not exist yet, once they do, they can break today’s encryption methods.
The WEF highlights that while quantum computing offers significant economic and scientific opportunities, it also accelerates the emergence of security risks, particularly the potential to break public-key encryption – vital for securing digital systems such as online banking and government communications.
While the timeline for quantum computing’s full potential remains uncertain, the 2024 WEF Annual Meeting on Cybersecurity found that 40% of organisations have started to take proactive steps by conducting risk assessment to understand the quantum threat.
These risks to encryption are existential. At Standard Chartered, we have in place a resilient cryptography preparedness strategy: inventorying assets, adopting and updating quantum-resistant standards and raising awareness so that we are ready to migrate when the time comes. In short, we are preparing for both today’s AI-driven risks and tomorrow’s quantum disruption, while staying client-focused balancing the Bank’s agility with long-term security.
With threat attackers moving at machine speed with more sophisticated AI-enabled scams, exacerbated by geopolitical tensions, trust will become a scare commodity. Financial institutions must protect their systems and embed security-by-design in everything they do. The way forward is approaching cybersecurity as a strategic imperative – one that spans people, processes, and technology for business survival and sustainable growth.
