Cybercrime and Financial Institutions in Latvia: Latvijas Banka Sets Priorities for 2024

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Latvijas Banka, the regulator of Latvia’s financial sector, has outlined its supervisory priorities for 2024 to ensure financial stability and protect customers. In this article, we’ll explore the key areas of focus and what it means for financial institutions in Latvia.

Priorities for 2024

According to Santa Purgaile, Deputy Governor of Latvijas Banka, the bank will prioritize the following five key areas:

Good Governance

Managing IT security risks
Preventing money laundering and terrorism financing (ML/TPF)

Operational and Financial Resilience

Ensuring business model sustainability
Focusing on market conduct risk

Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing Prevention

Conducting 7 on-site inspections to assess ML/TPF risk management practices at financial institutions
Providing services to low-risk customers

Sanctions Risks

Conducting 19 on-site inspections to assess sanctions risks at financial institutions
Ensuring compliance with international sanctions

Digital Resilience and Cybersecurity

Latvijas Banka will devote special attention to IT security risks facing Latvian financial institutions in 2024. This includes managing cybersecurity threats and third-party outsourcing risks.

“Market participants need to pay more attention to digital resilience and cybersecurity risks,” said Purgaile.

On-Site Inspections

The bank’s supervisors will conduct a total of 31 on-site inspections across various sectors, including:

Banks
Insurance companies
Investment firms
Cooperative credit unions

These inspections will assess the management of cybersecurity and third-party outsourcing risks at financial institutions.

Publicly Available Information

The regulator’s supervisory priorities for 2024 can be found online, along with a publicly available part of the financial market supervision plan for the same year.