The strength of the U.S. banking system remains sound, although cyber threats remain a concern, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said in its most recent semiannual risk perspective.
According to a summary of the report’s findings, bank balance sheets remain satisfactory, while low funding costs, moderate loan growth and modest expense growth contributed to the satisfactory earnings performance. Commercial and retail loan portfolio delinquencies, loss rates, and noncurrent and classified levels were manageable. Liquidity remained sound while deposit levels continued to increase during the first half of the year.
At the same time, the OCC said it has observed an increase in threats posed by foreign state-sponsored actors and sophisticated cybercriminal groups. It pointed to alerts by law enforcement agencies about a threat posed to U.S. businesses by North Korean IT workers using false identities. The report also said that “a recent firewall access incident” should serve as a warning to banks about managing risks to aging infrastructure and end of life, or EOL, of IT assets.
“It is important for banks to maintain an effective technology architecture strategy, commensurate with the size and complexity of products, services and operations being supported,” OCC said. “It may also be appropriate for bank technology strategies to consider processes for managing and mitigating risks from IT assets that have reached their EOL.”
