109 banks based in Europe face a stress test this year. The European Central Bank is conducting a large-scale study on bank resilience.

The European Central Bank announced today that 109 European banks will have to undergo a “stress test” in the first half of this year. This is part of a large-scale study on the cyber resilience of the banking sector, which is carried out every two years. During a stress test, participating institutions have to act as if they were experiencing a cyber attack.

It’s not about whether they can prevent a cyberattack, but about how they respond to it. Response and recovery measures will be tested to assess whether banks are following proper procedures, have a contingency plan in place and how quickly they can resume operations. 28 banks will undergo a more comprehensive test that will require them to submit additional information about their cybersecurity policies.

The results of the tests will initially be discussed individually with each bank, but the ECB also plans to publish a comprehensive report in the summer. The test not only serves to bring banks online, but is also intended to help banks learn from each other about how they can take action against cyberattacks.

A total of 113 European banks are under the direct supervision of the ECB, so there are few that will escape this situation. Banks active in Belgium include Belfius, Crelan, Europabank, Argenta, KBC, BNP Paribas-Fortis, ING, Banque Transatlantique and Beobank.