First Swiss FS-CSC cyber exercise in French-speaking Switzerland

On Wednesday, 26 November 2025, the Swiss Financial Sector Cyber Security Centre (Swiss FS-CSC) conducted an operational cyber exercise for its French-speaking members. This first cyber exercise in French-speaking Switzerland highlights the importance of nationwide cooperation between financial institutions and authorities for the cyber resilience of the industry.

“The Geneva financial centre and the financial institutions of French-speaking Switzerland play a significant role in the Swiss financial sector. We are therefore delighted to be conducting an operational cyber exercise here in Geneva. This enables us to offer our members in French-speaking Switzerland their own operational cyber exercise,” says Alexandra Arni, Executive Officer of the Swiss FS-CSC.

Cyber resilience has become a valuable asset for the financial industry. It ensures the stability of the financial market, market participants and the economy. The Swiss FS-CSC’s cyber exercises offer member institutions a concrete, preventive measure to prepare for increasingly complex cyber attacks and to strengthen cyber resilience.

Testing real-life scenarios

As with the Swiss FS-CSC’s operational cyber exercise in Zurich on 12 November 2025, the cyber exercise in Geneva simulated a complex, multi-stage cyber attack on the Swiss financial sector.

In Geneva, around 60 participants from member institutions worked in groups to analyse a realistic crisis situation and made decisions on technical containment, coordination and communication, which are crucial in an emergency to protect the data, systems and infrastructure of institutions and their customers and to ensure business continuity.

Cooperation significantly strengthens cyber resilience
“In the area of cyber security, this cooperation within the industry and with the authorities is crucial,” emphasises Alexandra Arni. “Realistic cyber exercises enable us to optimise our response plans for cyber incidents. An exchange between members in a protected environment is extremely valuable for this.”

About Swiss FS-CSC

The Swiss FS-CSC association is a public-private partnership that aims to improve the resilience of the financial sector against cyber risks and to foster partnership between financial institutions and authorities on strategic and operational issues.
Founded in Zurich on 5 April 2022, the association now has almost 180 members, including banks, insurers and re-insurers, 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 it as affiliates and are represented on its important committees.