Asobancaria Partners with OAS to Strengthen Cybersecurity in Colombian Financial Sector

The Association of Banking and Financial Institutions of Colombia (Asobancaria) has partnered with the Organization of American States (OAS) to strengthen cybersecurity across in the region.

Photo: Asobancaria President Santiago Castro (left) and OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro (right) sign the cybersecurity cooperation agreement in Washington. (Photo credit: Juan Manuel Herrera/OAS)

The agreement signed today between the two organizations covers the public sector, business world, and civil society, aiming to promote better cooperation among all stakeholders to “foster an open, safe and reliable digital environment throughout the region,” said the OAS in a statement.

Santiago Castro, president of ASOBANCARIA, believes that the initiative will provide better defense against cyberattacks and hacking in Colombia’s financial world.

“In Colombia, we have taken the issue of cybersecurity very seriously and that is why our association has created the first cybersecurity response center in the financial sector in Latin America,” said Castro.

He added that “we hope that other countries will follow this path.”

Luis Almagro, secretary general of the OAS, said that the need to create better safeguards in the financial sector is only growing as new technologies continue to proliferate in all segments of society.

“We thank ASOBANCARIA for its willingness to work with the OAS General Secretariat and the Inter-American Commission against Terrorism on cybersecurity issues to help raise awareness and knowledge about the challenges and advances of digital security in Colombia’s financial sector and that of Latin America,” said Almagro.

The announcement comes on the heels of a similar agreement that the OAS signed with the government of Chile to “strengthen their collaborative work on cybersecurity, given the risks and challenges faced by governments in technological globalization,” said the Washington-based organization in a statement.