FinTech Cybersecurity Challenges and Regulations: Bahrain Case Study

Abstract

Winds of change are blowing across the financial systems, with services and advancements in Financial Technology (FinTech) influencing all aspects of the financial sector and generating a continual stream of innovations. Despite benefits offered by FinTech, it creates new challenges that endanger financial institutes’ stability and integrity. As cyber-attacks increasingly threaten the FinTech industry, cybersecurity can be considered as one of the main challenges that need to be addressed to properly manage risks associated with integrating FinTech services in people’s day-to-day life. This Systematic Literature Review (SLR) highlights the cybersecurity challenges that FinTech industry faces and discusses existing measures that can effectively manage FinTech cybersecurity risks. An analysis of the existing literature and regulations is carried out to identify comparable components that exist across some internationally well-known cybersecurity standards and frameworks. Considering Bahrain as a case study, the paper explores key elements and factors that were not addressed adequately while implementing such standards. Research findings indicate that creating a cybersecurity framework for FinTech could be advantageous and offers a new perspective on the topic by demonstrating a natural extension of the existing knowledge. The findings offer useful suggestions for Bahrain’s financial regulators to get better acquainted with these aspects. It lays the foundation to develop a cybersecurity framework for FinTech specifically for Bahrain, and it endeavors to raise the level of cybersecurity and a trusted electronic environment for both the customers and service providers in Bahrain.