While still in its early stages, the banks expect the group members will share more information with each other about threats, prepare comprehensive responses for when attacks occur and conduct war games designed for the issues facing the biggest institutions.
The banks are currently part of a wider group of banks that looks to share information about cyber risks.
The financial-services industry ranked third in number of cyberattacks last year, after health care and manufacturing, according to a US cybersecurity report released by IBM in May 2016.
Banks have intensified efforts to protect themselves this year despite the adoption in December of the Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, a federal law that aims to make it easier for private companies to share cyber-threat information with the government. Financial institutions have expressed concern about the federal initiative, however, saying it adds another layer of bureaucracy as they already are investing billions of dollars to fight off cybercriminals and sharing information among themselves.
The new bank group, which is in the early stages of development, will build on the efforts of an existing industry organization that already addresses the same issues for the broader financial-services industry.
Banks have long been targets of hackers, and also have racked up hundreds of millions of dollars in costs to cover purchases made on counterfeit credit cards resulting from data breaches at retailers.
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