Britons are being encouraged to open a second bank account as a precaution against potential disruptions caused by cyber attacks, the head of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has advised. Nikhil Rathi, the FCA’s chief executive, emphasized the importance of having alternative access to funds in the event that a primary banking provider experiences outages.

Rathi’s warning comes amid growing concerns over digital resilience following recent service disruptions affecting millions of customers. Last Tuesday, a systems failure linked to Google’s London data centre left users of multiple financial institutions—including Revolut, Lloyds Bank, HSBC, Barclays, Bank of Scotland, NatWest, Halifax, Nationwide, Royal Mail, and DPD—unable to access accounts or use their bank cards.

Speaking at the City of London’s annual dinner on Wednesday, Rathi highlighted the increasing challenges posed by rapid technological advancement. He described current threats to market integrity as among the most serious he has encountered in his more than six years at the regulator. “Technology is accelerating exponentially,” he said, noting that the pace of change is both widespread and disruptive.

Rathi expressed concern about the system’s slow response to emerging risks, warning that public trust in institutions may erode if failures are not swiftly addressed. He also outlined the FCA’s efforts to enhance collaboration with other regulators and industry stakeholders to identify risks earlier and facilitate more proactive responses.

The advisories come shortly after a widespread outage on Thursday affected over 30 government websites, and partial service interruptions on another four, following security vulnerabilities discovered in the PHP programming language, which supports around 70 percent of all websites. This incident further underscores the fragility of digital infrastructure amid evolving cyber threats.

In support of national preparedness, the UK government recently launched its “be ready” campaign, urging households to stockpile essentials such as three days’ supply of non-perishable food and bottled water, radios, and blankets. This guidance aims to help citizens cope with potential service disruptions caused by cyber attacks or natural disasters.

Rathi’s message to the public is clear: individuals should proactively consider their financial resilience. “Do you have more than one account? Do you have your own ability to substitute in the event that your single provider goes down?” he asked, emphasizing that some incidents may be unavoidable and planning ahead is crucial.