UK financial services companies are being urged to join forces with regulators and the Government to combat the growing threat from cyber crime in a new report which argues that simply throwing money at the problem will not help; systems need to be rebuilt from the ground up.

In a joint report with industry body UK Finance, KPMG insists that a "quirkier and more collaborative" response is necessary.

This new approach needs to be built on teamwork to attack the cyber crime infrastructure. Only then, says the study, can criminals be "put out of business".

KPMG cyber security practice director David Ferbrache said: “That imposes cost on the criminals, because they then have to reconstruct that botnet, those phishing sites.”

With the global cost of cybercrime now topping $450bn a year, UK banks alone spent $360m on IT security in 2016. However, approaches are often slow and constrained by regulation and cyber criminals can operate beyond borders and the law and are constantly updating their methods.

Ferbrache added: “Too many companies either deny it is a problem for them or have false confidence in their processes. At the other end of the scale, there are business worriers who want as much security as possible – without realising the impact on day-to-day business. None of these extreme positions is helpful."

There are groups such as the Cyber Defence Alliance, a London-based, public-private partnership set up to turn threat information into actionable intelligence, but different initiatives need to be linked up, he said.

“For us, it’s very much a call to arms across the community. There’s a lot more we can do.”