Cybercrime is the main risk to the economy, according to the boss of the US Central Bank

“The world is changing. And so are the risks. And I would say the risk we watch the most is cyber risk.” The President of the US Central Bank is more worried about the risk of a large-scale cyberattack than of a 2008-like global financial crisis. Risks of a 2008-like crisis with banks in need of bailouts by governments “are very, very weak”, said Jerome Powell on the program “60 minutes” on the American channel CBS News.

“There are scenarios in which (…) the payments system cannot function. Payments cannot be made. There are scenarios in which a large financial institution would lose the ability to track the payments it makes. and things like that “, explained Jerome Powell. The Fed is also considering the possibility that part or even a large part of the financial system could shut down. “So we spend a lot of time, energy and money to guard against that”, he stressed, recalling that cyber attacks target large institutions “everyday”.