The Rising Bar for Cybersecurity in RFPs

Kael TheoWritten by
Published onUpdated on

 

Introduction

 

Financial institutions are prioritizing cybersecurity like never before, with 78% of banking RFPs now including stringent vendor security requirements (Delotte, 2023). From encryption standards to incident response SLAs, procurement teams demand granular proof of compliance. For fintech vendors, understanding these evolving RFP requirements is critical to crafting competitive proposals while avoiding costly disqualifications.

 

The Rising Bar for Cybersecurity in RFPs

 

Modern banking RFPs—like the Bank of England’s 2023 Cloud Services RFP—now require:

 

    • SOC 2 Type II or ISO 27001 certification (mandatory in 92% of U.S. banking RFPs per Gartner)

 

    • Penetration testing reports with remediation evidence

 

    • Data sovereignty guarantees, especially for cross-border payments processors

 

    • Third-party audit rights for continuous monitoring

 

 

For example, a recent EU Open Banking RFP mandated vendors disclose all subprocessors and demonstrate GDPR-aligned breach notification workflows.

 

Common Pitfalls in Vendor Responses

 

Analysis of failed fintech RFP submissions reveals recurring issues:

 

    • Over-reliance on generic compliance language without bank-specific controls (e.g., stating “PCI DSS compliant” without evidence of quarterly ASV scans)

 

    • Missing incident response timelines – RFPs like TD Bank’s 2024 Fraud Solution RFP require sub-4-hour breach notification SLAs

 

    • Inadequate employee training documentation – 67% of procurement teams now request cybersecurity training logs (ACAMS survey)

 

 

Best Practices for Fintech Proposal Teams

 

1. Align with Financial Industry Frameworks

 

    • Map controls to FFIEC CAT, NIST CSF, or CIS Critical Security Controls

 

    • Reference recent financial sector audits (e.g., “Our SOC 2 report includes FedRAMP Moderate-equivalent controls”)

 

 

2. Provide Attack-Specific Protections

 

    • Detail defenses against APP fraud, supply chain attacks, and AI-driven social engineering

 

    • Highlight behavioral biometrics or transaction anomaly detection if applicable

 

 

3. Offer Procurement Teams Ready Compliance Packages

 

    • Pre-build FedRAMP/FINMA-ready documentation sets

 

    • Include executive summaries of third-party audit reports with redacted samples

 

 

Evaluation Criteria Used by Banks

 

Leading institutions like JPMorgan Chase use weighted scoring models where cybersecurity accounts for 30–40% of total points. Key evaluation dimensions:
| Criteria | Weight | Vendor Must Demonstrate |
|———-|——–|————————-|
| Data Encryption | 20% | AES-256 + TLS 1.3 implementation |
| Access Controls | 15% | Role-based RBAC with MFA |
| Incident History | 10% | ≤2 severity 3+ incidents in 24 months |

 

Regulatory Shapes Procurement Requirements

 

Upcoming SEC cybersecurity disclosure rules and EU DORA will force banks to:

 

    • Demand vendors’ CYBER maturity assessments

 

    • Require proof of cyber insurance ($5M+ coverage becoming standard)

 

    • Standardize critical vendor termination clauses

 

 

Future Trends for Fintech Vendors

 

    1. AI-Powered Compliance Checks: Some banks now use tools like RFPIO to automatically flag vendors missing key security controls.

 

    1. Continuous Attestation: Replace annual audits with real-time security posture dashboards.

 

    1. Quantum-Readiness: RFPs from institutions like ING now ask vendors to outline PQCs migration plans.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Winning banking RFPs requires moving beyond checkbox compliance. Vendors must contextualize security controls for financial workloads, while procurement teams should benchmark requirements against Basel Committee and FS-ISAC guidelines. As threat landscapes evolve, expect cybersecurity RFP sections to grow from today’s average 12 pages to 20+ by 2025.

 

Resources:

 

 

 

 

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