Strengthening cyber resilience in French-speaking Switzerland: Swiss FS-CSC conducts second operational cyber exercise in Geneva

On 29 October 2026, the Swiss Financial Sector Cyber Security Centre (Swiss FS-CSC) conducted its second operational cyber exercise in French-speaking Switzerland. Around 60 participants from Swiss and Liechtenstein financial institutions rehearsed their response to realistic cyber attack scenarios. The event underscores the association’s commitment to French-speaking Switzerland and strengthens knowledge and experience sharing among its members in the region.

Cyber attacks are constantly evolving and confront financial institutions with increasingly complex challenges. In addition to technical capabilities, collaboration between different functions, information analysis and sound decision-making under time pressure are crucial to managing a cyber crisis.

As a public-private partnership, the Swiss FS-CSC works actively with its members to boost the cyber resilience of the Swiss and Liechtenstein financial centre. One key element of this commitment is scenario-based cyber exercises, which promote experience sharing and enhance participating institutions’ organisational and operational resilience.

Second operational cyber exercise in French-speaking Switzerland

Following the successful first cyber exercise in French-speaking Switzerland in November 2025, the Swiss FS-CSC is continuing its commitment to the region. The exercise was held at Lombard Odier’s headquarters in Bellevue near Geneva. Simon Ganière, Group CISO at Lombard Odier, emphasises: “Cyber resilience depends on our ability to learn from one another, collaborate effectively and collectively strengthen our preparedness. This exercise demonstrates the importance of a coordinated approach to sustainably strengthen the security and stability of our financial ecosystem.”

Alexandra Arni, Executive Officer of the Swiss FS-CSC, adds: “With our second operational cyber exercise in French-speaking Switzerland, we are sending a clear signal of our commitment to further strengthening the network among our members in the region. Direct experience sharing between institutions is a key success factor in strengthening the financial centre’s cyber resilience.”

New methodology for operational cyber exercises

With this year’s exercise, the Swiss FS-CSC has further developed the methodology underpinning its operational cyber exercises. Rather than responding to a series of predefined events, participants were immersed in a realistic operational investigation. Working with leads, digital traces and operational artefacts, the teams analysed information, formulated hypotheses, assessed evidence and made decisions under uncertainty. The exercise therefore focused on the real-world working methods of incident response, cyber defence and cyber threat intelligence teams.

The aim was to further develop participating institutions’ capabilities in analysis, collaboration and operational decision-making, while promoting the exchange of experience and best practices across the financial sector.

Recognition of cyber exercises by FINMA

FINMA permits supervised institutions in categories 4 and 5 to fulfil their duty to carry out a tabletop exercise by taking part in a Swiss FS-CSC cyber exercise. More information on this can be found in FINMA Guidance 03/2024.

About Swiss FS-CSC

Constituted as an association, the Swiss FS-CSC is a public-private partnership. Its aim is to improve the financial sector’s resilience to cyber risks, and to foster a partnership between financial institutions and the authorities on strategic and operational issues. The FS-CSC was founded on 5 April 2022 in Zurich and now has almost 180 members, among them banks, insurers and reinsurers, financial service providers, the Swiss National Bank (SNB), SIX, securities firms and industry associations. The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the State Secretariat for International Finance (SIF) support the association as affiliates and are represented in its key governing bodies.