At the same time, the financial sector is facing ever-escalating threats from cyber criminals. In an interconnected world, although all organisations are targets for cyber attacks, financial institutions are more vulnerable than most others. The vulnerability arises out of two reasons. One is the nature of banking. Banks deal with money. Money is today stored and transferred in digital form.
In 2004 and 2005 the South African economy grew at robust rates of 4.8 and 5.1 per cent respectively. This is in sharp contrast to the 3 per cent average annual growth experienced between 1994 and 2003. In the first two quarters of this year, the economy grew at revised annualised rates in excess of 5 per cent.