IT Support for Financial Services Firms
Financial services firms carry more regulatory IT obligations than almost any other sector — GLBA, SOX, SEC cybersecurity rules, NY DFS Part 500. Get matched with an MSP that treats compliance as a deliverable, not an afterthought.
Which Financial Firms Need Specialized IT?
If your firm is regulated by the FTC, SEC, FINRA, OCC, state banking regulators, or insurance commissioners — your IT provider needs to understand what those regulators expect.
Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs)
Subject to GLBA Safeguards Rule and SEC cybersecurity rules. Portfolio management systems, client portals, and CRM data all carry compliance obligations.
Community Banks & Credit Unions
GLBA, FFIEC guidance, and state banking regulations. Core banking system uptime is non-negotiable. IT must support examiner requests and audit readiness year-round.
Mortgage Brokers & Lenders
GLBA Safeguards Rule, RESPA, and state licensing. Loan origination systems handle highly sensitive PII. Secure document workflows and access controls are critical.
Broker-Dealers & Securities Firms
FINRA Rule 4370 (business continuity), SEC Rule 17a-4 (records retention in WORM storage), and order management system uptime. Regulators will ask about your BCP in an exam.
Accounting & Tax Firms
GLBA applies to tax preparers. IRS Publication 4557 outlines data safeguarding requirements. Client financial data is a prime ransomware target — backup strategy is foundational.
Private Equity & Venture Capital
SEC cybersecurity rules increasingly apply to registered advisers. Deal data, LP information, and portfolio company access are high-value targets requiring enterprise-grade controls.
Financial Services IT Compliance Requirements
Each regulation has specific IT controls. Your MSP should be able to map their services to these requirements — not just say they're "compliant."
| Regulation | Who It Applies To | Key IT Requirements | MSP's Role |
|---|---|---|---|
| GLBA Safeguards Rule FTC | Non-bank financial institutions — RIAs, mortgage brokers, auto dealers with financing, tax preparers | Written information security program, annual risk assessment, MFA, encryption at rest & transit, pen testing annually, vuln scanning 2x/year, incident response plan, vendor oversight | Implement and document all technical safeguards; provide annual evidence for audit; manage vendor risk assessments; respond to and document incidents |
| SOX Section 302/404 SEC | Public companies and their IT environments supporting financial reporting | IT General Controls (ITGCs): logical access, change management, computer operations, data integrity. Evidence collected and reviewed by external auditors annually. | Maintain audit-trail logs, enforce segregation of duties in financial systems, document change management procedures, provide evidence for PCAOB auditors |
| SEC Cybersecurity Rules SEC | Public companies (effective 2024) and registered investment advisers | Material incident disclosure within 4 business days (Form 8-K); annual cybersecurity risk management, strategy, and governance disclosure (Form 10-K); board oversight documentation | Incident detection and response capability to meet 4-day window; annual cybersecurity posture documentation; board-level reporting support |
| NY DFS Part 500 NY DFS | DFS-licensed entities: banks, insurers, mortgage companies, licensed lenders operating in New York | Designated CISO, annual pen testing, bi-annual vuln scans, MFA, encryption, 72-hour incident notification, third-party vendor cybersecurity requirements, annual certification | Provide or support CISO function, conduct/coordinate assessments, manage vendor risk program, prepare annual certification documentation |
| FFIEC Guidance FFIEC | Federally insured banks and credit unions | IT examination handbook covers: audit, business continuity, cyber risk, development & acquisition, management, operations, outsourcing, retail payment systems, wholesale payment systems | Maintain examination-ready documentation; support IT examinations; provide BCP testing evidence; manage third-party/vendor risk |
| FINRA Rule 4370 FINRA | Broker-dealers | Written Business Continuity Plan (BCP), annual BCP review, notification to FINRA upon invoking BCP, emergency contact list maintenance | Implement and test BCP; document RTO/RPO for trading systems; maintain off-site backup; provide annual BCP review documentation |
| SEC Rule 17a-4 SEC | Broker-dealers and registered investment advisers | Electronic records retained in non-erasable, non-rewritable format (WORM) for 3–6 years depending on record type; audit trail required | Implement WORM-compliant storage (e.g., Azure Immutable Blob, AWS Object Lock, Wasabi Compliance); maintain audit trail; verify retention policy compliance |
SOX IT General Controls: What Auditors Actually Look At
If you're a public company or approaching an IPO, your IT provider's documentation discipline will directly affect your audit outcome. Here's what PCAOB auditors examine.
Audit readiness tip: The most common SOX ITGC finding is "insufficient evidence" — not that controls don't exist, but that there's no documentation. Your MSP should generate evidence automatically: access review exports, change tickets, backup logs, monitoring alerts. If they can't produce this on demand, that's a material weakness waiting to happen.
Common Financial Services Applications — IT Considerations
Your IT provider needs to understand what these systems do, where they store data, and what their compliance implications are.
| Application | Used By | Data Sensitivity | IT / Compliance Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orion / Orion Portfolio Solutions | RIAs, wealth managers | High — account holdings, performance data, client PII | Cloud-based; SSO integration required; API connections to custodians (Schwab, Fidelity, Pershing) must be secured; user access reviews for GLBA |
| Redtail CRM | RIAs, financial planners | High — client financial data, beneficiary info | Cloud-based; MFA required for GLBA; data export/backup procedures needed; user offboarding critical |
| Salesforce Financial Services Cloud | Banks, insurers, wealth management | High — CRM + financial account data | Salesforce Shield or Event Monitoring for audit trails; field-level security for sensitive data; SOX ITGC considerations for change management in Salesforce config |
| Sage Intacct | Mid-market financial services, fund admins | Critical — general ledger, financial statements | SOX ITGC in scope; role-based access critical; API connections to operational systems must be documented; cloud but access control evidence required |
| QuickBooks Enterprise | Smaller financial firms, accounting firms | Critical — financial records, client tax data | On-prem or hosted; backup and DR critical; user access controls often under-configured; GLBA Safeguards Rule applies to accounting firms |
| Encompass (ICE Mortgage) | Mortgage lenders and brokers | Critical — loan applications, SSNs, income data | GLBA Safeguards Rule in scope; vendor access to loan files must be tracked; audit trail for loan file modifications required |
| Schwab / Fidelity Custodian Portals | RIAs using third-party custodians | High — trading authority, account access | MFA required; trading authority access must be tightly controlled and reviewed regularly; GLBA vendor oversight applies to custodian relationship |
Questions to Ask a Financial Services IT Provider
Use these in your first call to separate firms that understand your world from those that will learn it at your expense.
On Compliance & Documentation
- Have you supported a GLBA Safeguards Rule audit before?
- How do you produce evidence for SOX ITGC reviews?
- Can you generate quarterly access review reports for our financial systems?
- How do you handle a regulator information request (e.g., SEC exam, FINRA exam)?
On Security Controls
- How do you enforce MFA across all financial systems, including custodian portals?
- What WORM-compliant storage do you use for records retention?
- How quickly can you contain a ransomware incident and what's your breach notification process?
- How do you manage third-party vendor access to our systems?
On Experience & References
- What financial services clients do you currently manage?
- Which financial applications are you familiar with? (Orion, Redtail, Encompass, etc.)
- Have you worked with a firm through an SEC examination or FINRA audit?
- Do you have a virtual CISO offering for firms that need a designated qualified individual?
Get Matched With a Financial Services IT Provider
Tell us about your firm. We'll match you with MSPs who have verifiable financial services experience — not generalists who've never seen a GLBA audit.