Today in Washington, D.C., the Acting Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, Brian Roseboro, presented remarks at the launch of the so-called “next generation” Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FSISAC). He said the Department of the Treasury wholeheartedly supports the mission of FSISAC, which will enhance the resiliency of the thousands of financial institutions that comprise the financial sector.

Under Secretary Roseboro pointed out that the United States has a $12 trillion economy with some $4 trillion in funds flowing daily through the financial system. Recognising the financial system as the life blood of the US economy, he said any significant disruption in this flow of funds would severely affect economic growth and the standard of living.

The original FSISAC was created in 1999 in response to a Presidential Directive. The next generation FSISAC is designed to meet new threats created by September 11 and the exponential increase of cyber threats. Servicing the entire financial services sector, the Centre will integrate physical and cyber threat information. It will provide a state-of-the-art technology platform for the confidential exchange of information as the financial sector works together to respond to emerging physical and cyber threats.

After being designated by President Bush as the lead agency to coordinate the protection of the critical financial infrastructure of the U.S., the Treasury made the development of a next-generation FSISAC a top priority. In this connection, it worked with the existing FSISAC, sister financial regulators in the “Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee”, and private sector members of the “Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council” to develop a business plan for the next generation.