Danish financial infrastructure secure, cyber threats demand vigilance

Danmarks Nationalbank's 2025 oversight report concludes that the Danish payments infrastructure is secure, efficient, and stable.

The central systems and solutions demonstrate high compliance with international standards for organisation, risk management, and contingency planning, ensuring that the public and businesses can exchange payments without significant delays.

System owners have generally achieved a high degree of maturity in developing cyber resilience capabilities.

However, the report highlights that the threat from cybercriminals remains serious and continuously evolving, with factors like hybrid techniques contributing to a more complex threat landscape.

Full protection against cyberattacks and other operational incidents is not possible, necessitating continuous strengthening of the infrastructure's robustness to stay ahead of developments.

On an average banking day in 2025, payments totalling kr.

838 billion, equivalent to a quarter of Denmark's GDP, were processed through these systems, underscoring their critical importance for the economy and financial stability.

Danmarks Nationalbank's oversight ensures that the core systems and solutions in the Danish payments infrastructure function securely and efficiently, complying with high international standards.

These include CPMI-IOSCO's Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMI) and its Guidance on Cyber Resilience, as well as the ECB's Cyber Resilience Oversight Expectations (CROE) and standards for payment instruments (PISA).

A significant operational change in 2025 was the transfer of Danish kroner settlement from Danmarks Nationalbank's proprietary Kronos2 system to the pan-European TARGET Services platform in Easter.

This new setup, collectively termed TARGET DKK, integrates T2 for interbank payments, T2S for securities settlement, and TIPS for instant payments, while Danmarks Nationalbank's SPI continues to handle monetary policy and collateral management.

The report also details how netting within systems like Sumclearing, Intraday clearing, and T2S substantially reduces liquidity needs, for example, cutting retail payment liquidity needs by 78 percent and T2S settlement needs by 97 percent, enhancing overall efficiency.