The nation’s biggest banks are monitoring the escalating conflict between Russia and Ukraine to get ready for potential economic sanctions or cyberattacks, the New York Times reported. The Biden administration is in regular touch with banks about the possibility of economic penalties on Russia. Those talks are aimed at preparing lenders and minimizing the potential disruption to financial markets if broad sanctions are rolled out. Carrying out severe economic punishments would be a complex undertaking, requiring American banks to cut off lending to Russian companies, sales of sovereign bonds and, potentially, cross-border payments. Such severe measures have never been applied to an economy as large as Russia’s. Lenders could be impacted if the escalating conflict spurs volatility in stock markets and commodity prices. But a key emerging threat to banks is the danger of cyberattacks, which could be Russia’s way of retaliating if financial and economic sanctions are imposed. The Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, a group that shares cyberintelligence across the financial industry, said it was looking out for threats. “Our global intelligence team has set up the appropriate communication channels to equip the financial services industry with the pertinent cybersecurity information and guidance,” Steve Silberstein, the chief executive of FS-ISAC, said in a statement. The Treasury Department met with bank chiefs, including Brian Moynihan of Bank of America and Charles W. Scharf from Wells Fargo, on Wednesday for a previously scheduled meeting to discuss cyberdefenses. The next day, government officials from the White House and several agencies met with executives from large U.S. lenders to discuss their response to potential Russian hacking threats.
