From Efficiency to Resilience: The New Strategic Mandate for Banks

For the past decade, banking strategy has been dominated by efficiency - doing more with less. But a series of shocks has forced a fundamental rethink. Global Banking Monitor's 72-page report examines the strategic shift from cost optimisation to resilience-building, and what this means for how banks organise, invest, and operate.

The report analyses the trade-offs between efficiency and robustness, and provides a practical framework for building resilience without abandoning cost discipline.

Key findings

• The efficiency-first model has reached its limits. Years of cost-cutting have left many banks operationally fragile, with single points of failure, overloaded teams, and limited capacity to absorb disruption.
• Resilience is not the opposite of efficiency - but it requires different investment. The report identifies areas where spending on robustness, redundancy, and flexibility delivers long-term value that pure efficiency programmes miss.
• Regulatory expectations are accelerating the shift. UK, EU, and US frameworks are increasingly explicit about operational resilience requirements, with supervisors demanding evidence of scenario testing and recovery capabilities.
• Technology is both the problem and the solution. Legacy system fragility is a major source of operational risk, but cloud infrastructure, automation, and real-time monitoring offer practical tools for building more resilient operations.
• The operating model needs to evolve. Resilience requires changes to decision-making structures, centralisation vs decentralisation trade-offs, and how banks measure success beyond cost metrics.

What the report covers

1. Executive Summary - The strategic shift explained and key resilience priorities
2. The Shift in Strategic Thinking - From cost-cutting to robustness, with lessons from recent crises
3. Defining Operational Resilience - Key components across systems, processes, and people
4. Cost vs Resilience Trade-offs - Investment vs efficiency and short-term vs long-term thinking
5. Technology as a Resilience Enabler - Automation, cloud infrastructure, and monitoring tools
6. Regulatory Expectations - UK, EU, and US frameworks and supervisory focus areas
7. Case Studies - Leading bank approaches, failures, and lessons
8. Operating Model Evolution - Centralisation vs decentralisation and decision-making structures
9. Metrics and KPIs - Resilience measurement and operational indicators
10. Implementation Roadmap - Practical steps and sequencing priorities

Who should read this

This report is designed for COOs, CROs, Heads of Operational Resilience, and board members responsible for risk oversight. It is equally valuable for CIOs and technology leaders whose infrastructure decisions directly impact operational robustness.

For enquiries about accessing this report, contact [email protected]