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Banking and Finance Sector-Specific Plan (PDF, 116 pages - 3.3 MB)

 

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Homeland Security Components

• Office of Infrastructure Protection

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More from Homeland Security

• National Infrastructure Protection Plan
• NIPP Sector-Specific Plans

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Banking and Finance Sector: Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources

Sector Overview

The Banking and Finance Sector, the backbone of the world economy, is a large and diverse sector primarily owned and operated by private entities. In 2005, the sector accounted for more than 8.1 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. Financial services firms provide a broad array of financial products for their customers. These products:

1. allow customers to deposit funds and make payments to other parties;
2. provide credit and liquidity to customers;
3. allow customers to invest funds for both long and short periods; and
4. transfer financial risks among customers.

The financial institutions that provide these services are all somewhat different, each within a specific part or parts of the financial services marketplace. Financial institutions operate to provide customers the financial products that they want, ensure the institution's financial integrity, protect customers' assets, and guarantee the integrity of the financial system. As such, financial institutions and the financial markets that they organize manage a wide variety of financial and certain non-financial risks.

This page was last reviewed/modified on March 18, 2008.