The Commission welcomes the political agreement reached yesterday between the European Parliament and the Council on the Commission’s proposal for a Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA). DORA is an important part of the Commission’s Digital Finance Package proposed in September 2020. As the financial sector increasingly depends on software and digital processes, information communication technologies (ICT) risks are more and more relevant in finance. The political agreement will ensure that financial firms can withstand ICT-related threats. Banks, stock exchanges, clearinghouses and other financial firms will have to respect strict standards to prevent and limit the impact of ICT-related incidents. The agreement also introduces an oversight framework on service providers that provide critical services such as cloud computing to financial institutions.
Mairead McGuinness, Commissioner for Financial Services, Financial Stability and Capital Markets Union, said: “I warmly welcome the political agreement between the European Parliament and the Council and I would like to thank negotiators for their work on the Digital Operational Resilience Act. Thanks to this agreement, our financial sector will be better protected against ICT risks, including cyber-attacks, which is essential for financial stability.”