The state-of-the-art centre for cyber resilience is the first establishment of its kind that Mastercard has invested in outside of North America.

The move marks an aim by Mastercard to drive collaboration between regulators and companies within the private and public sectors, as well as combatting cyber attacks on the European payments ecosystem.

The centre will act as a cyber security hub for the region, and will bring together national cyber security centres, law enforcement bodies, industry groups and central banks.

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These stakeholders will include Interpol, the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Centre (FS-ISAC), the National Bank of Belgium (NBB), and the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Additionally, it will involve the intervention of physical security experts as well as those in the cyber security space.

“Financial services will always be at the top of the target list for attackers due to the vast pool of customer data and credentials under our responsibility,” said Javier Perez, president Europe at Mastercard. “Our European Cyber Resilience Centre improves collaboration amongst key organisations, helping to ensure businesses and individuals feel secure when sharing information online.”

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This centralisation of cyber intelligence in Europe will shorten the lines of communication internally between Mastercard teams, as well as externally between Mastercard and its customers, reducing response time in the process.

An interim centre is expected to be launched in the Spring of 2020, with a fully developed institution for cyber resilience planned for 2021.

“The security and privacy of our customers’ data is paramount,” added Perez. “Fraudsters and hackers know no borders or nationalities, so threats can strike from every corner of the world.

“Only a joint effort that involves all parties will be able to place Europe on the frontline of enterprise resilience. This new centre will synchronise our global resources and partners to constantly seek and adopt the best practices for us and our customer network.”