Benchmarking Cyber Resilience: What Good Looks Like in Financial Services

Why Benchmarking Matters

Without benchmarking, even well-resourced security programmes can become disconnected from business reality.

A firm may invest heavily in technology yet remain uncertain whether its resilience level is above or below industry peers.

Benchmarking provides that context. It enables leaders to:

• Identify strengths and weaknesses relative to comparable firms
• Prioritise investment where it delivers the greatest risk reduction
• Communicate measurable progress to Boards and regulators

It also helps demonstrate accountability under frameworks such as FCA SYSC, PRA SS1/21, and DORA, which increasingly expect firms to evidence improvement, not just activity.

External reference: FCA Operational Resilience Policy PS21/3.

From Cybersecurity to Measured Resilience

Benchmarking moves the conversation beyond technical compliance to organisational capability.
It asks how effectively a firm can anticipate, withstand, recover from, and adapt to disruptions.

This shift aligns with the regulatory definition of operational resilience.

Instead of measuring only the number of incidents or vulnerabilities, leading firms now measure:

• Response and recovery times for critical services
• Closure rates for remediation of high-risk vulnerabilities
• Detection coverage across systems and data flows
• Supplier assurance and third-party control maturity
• Trends over time that show genuine improvement

By tracking these indicators, firms turn cybersecurity into a measurable performance domain, comparable to financial or operational metrics.

The Role of Penetration Testing in Benchmarking

Penetration testing is a key input for resilience benchmarking. It offers real-world evidence of how well defences and processes perform under simulated attack.

When aggregated over time, testing results can provide:

• A maturity baseline across people, process, and technology
• Trend analysis showing improvement or recurring weaknesses
• Comparative performance against peer institutions

Progressive firms are now integrating these results into governance dashboards and risk reports that track key performance indicators such as time to detect, time to remediate, and percentage of closed findings.

Learn how our Penetration Testing Services for U.K. Financial Firms help translate technical findings into measurable resilience metrics.

External Benchmarks and Industry Frameworks

Several frameworks offer reference points for what good looks like:

• Bank of England CBEST Framework: sets the standard for threat-led testing and resilience maturity
• NCSC Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF): defines tiers of resilience for operators of essential services
• ISO 27001 and ISO 22301: link information security and business continuity standards
• DORA TLPT: introduces cross-border consistency in testing expectations for critical firms

Using these frameworks collectively helps firms position themselves against both regulatory and industry benchmarks.

External reference: NCSC Cyber Assessment Framework outlines measurable indicators of good cyber hygiene and resilience.

Building a Quantifiable Maturity Model

To move from benchmarking to improvement, firms need a quantifiable maturity model.

A five-level scale is common in financial services:

Firms operating at Level 4 or above are generally considered to demonstrate mature cyber resilience, supported by consistent validation and transparent oversight.

External reference: Bank of England CBEST Framework provides assessment models used for resilience scoring.

By assessing maturity across these dimensions, firms can demonstrate to boards, regulators and investors that they are not only compliant but genuinely resilient.

Benchmarking Cyber Resilience: Communicating Results to Stakeholders

Benchmarking data is only valuable if it can be communicated clearly.

Boards, regulators, and investors need visibility of:

• The organisation’s current resilience rating
• How it compares to peers
• What improvement trajectory is planned over the next 12–24 months

Presenting this through concise dashboards, heat maps, or resilience scorecards ensures information is accessible and supports informed discussion.

This transparency reinforces stakeholder confidence and reduces the perception of cybersecurity as an opaque or purely technical domain.

Explore our Cyber GRC Services to see how governance, reporting, and benchmarking combine to demonstrate measurable improvement.

Turning Benchmarking into Action

Benchmarking is not about competition but improvement.

Firms that use insights to refine governance, testing schedules, and control design consistently outperform peers in resilience audits.

They also find it easier to justify cybersecurity investment and to demonstrate compliance during FCA or PRA reviews.

For many financial firms, integrating penetration testing results, GRC metrics, and resilience data into one reporting stream is becoming the defining indicator of mature digital resilience.

For related insight, read What Boards Should Expect from a Penetration Testing Report to understand how to interpret and act on resilience data effectively.

In summary

Benchmarking cyber resilience allows financial institutions to measure progress, guide investment, and build trust with regulators and stakeholders.
It transforms cybersecurity from an abstract concept into a demonstrable business capability.

Ultimately, “what good looks like” is not a fixed destination but a state of continuous learning, validation, and adaptation.

Firms that benchmark, measure, and communicate effectively will lead the industry in both security confidence and investor assurance.