Citi and Kabbage have signed on as founding members of a new industry consortium set up by the World Economic Forum to strengthen the cybersecurity of fintech firms and data aggregators.

Established financial services firms are increasingly linking new fintech entrants to their system infrastructure - either voluntarily or because of regulation such as the EU's PSD2.

This, says the WEF, makes it crucial that there is a "reliable and objective" framework in place to assess the strength of companies' cybersecurity.

The consortium, which also includes the DTCC, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Zurich Insurance, will develop common principles for cybersecurity assessments, guidance for implementation, a point-based scoring framework, and tips on improving scores.

Rob Frohwein, CEO, Kabbage, says: "We need a living global standard that allows financial services companies to compete and work with incumbent institutions across borders and industries."

The consortium was set up after cybersecurity experts convened by the WEF identified the growing threat of cyber-attacks to financial services providers as a key concern for the global financial system.

You can read their white paper on the subject here