SEBI Chairman Calls for Enhanced Cyber Resilience in Financial Sector

During SEBI's Symposium on Cyber Defence, held in Mumbai from August 17-21, 2026, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey underscored the critical need for India's financial sector to strengthen its cyber resilience. Pandey emphasized a shift from conventional, periodic cybersecurity compliance to a more dynamic, continuous, and risk-driven approach. He highlighted that with cyber threats becoming increasingly interconnected and sophisticated, the focus should no longer solely be on preventing attacks, but rather on how quickly financial institutions can detect, contain, recover from, and learn from incidents. Pandey advocated for greater collaboration among regulators, financial institutions, technology companies, and other stakeholders to build collective resilience across the entire financial ecosystem. He stressed that cybersecurity should be elevated from merely an IT department concern to a boardroom priority, addressing it as a fundamental issue of business continuity and market integrity. The Chairman's address at the symposium aimed to prepare the financial sector for emerging challenges, including potential threats from quantum computing, and called for robust, tested incident response and recovery plans. This strategic emphasis on proactive measures and ecosystem-wide cooperation is crucial for safeguarding vital financial operations against a rapidly evolving cyber threat landscape.