Cybercrime is considered as the biggest possible business disruptor for the next five years, but regulation remains the most serious concern for financial firms, research suggests.
Over a third of 200 asset managers, hedge funds and banks who were asked, said they were concerned about the cyber threat.
High profile cyber attacks seen last year, including that on telecoms firm TalkTalk, were behind the heightened concerns.
But 58% in the Linedata research still viewed regulation as their main concern, with adapting to new regulatory regimes cited as the top challenge.
Cutting costs and maintaining operational efficiencies was another major concern for asset managers, with 43% of respondents raising it.
Worries about staff retention is also on the rise, the research suggests. Whereas 7% of respondents cited this as a key challenge in 2013, this increased to 16%. This pattern looks set to continue as 22% of respondents predicted that staff retention would be a major priority over the next three years.
“While the key challenges of managing regulatory change and maintaining operational efficiencies remain at the fore, the threat from cyber criminals has been added to asset managers’ growing list of concerns,” said Michael de Verteuil, head of business development at Linedata, a software firm.
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