The Latest Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) Statistics for 2026

The financial sector relies on third-party vendors, meaning that risk management in this area is imperative to an effective strategy. Rising regulatory pressure, cyber threats, and supply chain dependencies create a need for more comprehensive oversight frameworks to be integrated.

Read on to understand the critical statistics that define the current state of third-party risk management (TPRM) in financial services, including regulatory complexity, program maturity concerns, and emerging trends in TPRM.

The Growing Scale and Impact of Third-party Risk

The growing reliance on external vendors, driven by digital transformation initiatives, specialized service requirements, and cost optimization strategies has fundamentally altered the risk landscape, creating interconnected vulnerabilities.

1. Third-party vendor and supply chain compromises cost financial organizations an average of $4.91 million per incident, making them the second most expensive breach vector after malicious insider attacks.
2. Approximately 73% of cyber incidents reported by credit unions since September 2023 involved third-party vendors.
3. 85% of UK insurers and brokers have experienced negative impacts from third-party risks, including security breaches, financial losses, supply chain disruptions, and reputational damage.
4. Two-thirds of financial institutions report feeling pressure to enhance their TPRM programs, with auditors and regulators serving as the primary drivers of improvement initiatives.
5. The European Banking Authority published consultation papers in July 2025 proposing to broaden third-party risk management requirements beyond outsourcing and ICT arrangements.
6. 90% of credit union industry assets are managed or affected by unregulated third-party service providers, creating a significant regulatory blind spot.
7. Financial institutions must comply with DORA, NIS2, SEC cybersecurity rules, and NYDFS requirements, among other regulations, each imposing specific third-party oversight obligations.
8. 71% of EMEA financial institutions cite geopolitical risk as a driver of increased compliance costs, reflecting how sanctions screening, politically exposed persons (PEP) monitoring, and cross-border data restrictions compound the operational burden of vendor management.
9. 97% of organizations experienced at least one supply chain breach in 2025. The average organization shares confidential data with nearly 300 third-party vendors, creating massive exposure.

Resource Constraints and Program Maturity Challenges

Many financial institutions struggle with inadequate resources, immature processes, and organizational barriers that prevent them from achieving effective TPRM program execution. Unfortunately, this gap between regulatory expectation and operational capacity continues to widen for certain organizations.

10. 73% of financial institutions have two or fewer full-time employees managing vendor risk, even though more than half oversee 300+ vendors.
11. Only 39% of organizations rate their third-party risk mitigation as highly effective, suggesting that most institutions lack confidence in their ability to prevent or contain vendor-related incidents.
12. 64% of organizations now use dedicated TPRM software platforms, up 19% year-over-year, while 12% still rely primarily on spreadsheets. The dominance of manual processes for this 12% demonstrates how technology adoption is still lagging behind modern vendor ecosystems.
13. Only 47% of TPRM tasks are currently automated across financial institutions, leaving more than half of vendor risk activities dependent on manual intervention from compliance teams.
14. 63% of financial institutions say they have “a long way to go” before their TPRM function becomes a true strategic partner to the business.

Vendor Ecosystem Composition and Concentration Risk

Understanding ecosystem composition is essential to help organizations identify any potential points of failure. This also assists teams in developing appropriate diversification strategies.

15. Financial institutions typically classify 10-15% of their vendor portfolio as critical or high-risk, requiring intensive due diligence and ongoing monitoring.
16. A $1 billion credit union managing its vendor portfolio reported monitoring 200 vendors and 300 contracts with approximately one hour per week using automated vendor management technology.
17. Amazon, Microsoft, and Google together accounted for 63% of enterprise spending on cloud infrastructure services in Q3 2024, up from 61% two years prior, pointing to an even higher spend in 2026.
18. Programs managing over 1,000 vendors increased from 16% to 18% year-over-year, reflecting how digital transformation initiatives and specialized service requirements continue expanding institutions’ vendor footprints.
19. 44% of organizations assess more than 100 third parties each year, creating substantial due diligence workloads that strain internal resources. The volume of risk assessments requires scalable processes and technology support to maintain quality and timeliness.
20. Northeast Asia recorded a 54.3% third-party breach rate in 2024, the highest regional rate globally, demonstrating how geographic concentrations of vendor relationships can create correlated risk exposures.

Due Diligence, Monitoring, and Performance Management

Effective vendor oversight requires continuous vigilance throughout the relationship lifecycle. This begins from initial onboarding assessments and extends to ongoing monitoring and periodic reassessments.

21. Only 4% of organizations have high confidence that their third-party questionnaires match the reality of third-party risk, revealing a profound skepticism about traditional assessment methodologies.
22. 85% of financial institutions report moderate to high value from their TPRM programs, citing benefits including improved cybersecurity, cost savings, and stronger vendor oversight.
23. Critical and high-risk vendor engagements should be reassessed at least annually, while moderate-risk vendors require evaluation every 18-24 months and low-risk vendors every 2-3 years.
24. 27% of vendor risk identification effort occurs during the ongoing relationship rather than initial onboarding, highlighting how risk profiles evolve over time as vendors’ security, finances, and operations change.

Emerging Risks and Future Trends

Forward-looking institutions are adapting their TPRM frameworks to address these emerging challenges while positioning themselves to capitalize on innovations in risk intelligence and automation.

25. Nearly half of financial institutions experienced a third-party cyber event last year, with AI ranking as the second-biggest TPRM risk heading into 2025.
26. Business continuity and resilience concerns increased from 14% in 2023 to 23% in 2025 among executives monitoring third-party risks. This 64% increase reflects heightened awareness of supply chain fragility.
27. Initial Access Brokers posted 6,406 listings for financial sector access credentials between April 2024 and April 2025 within monitored forums, suggesting the trend will continue into 2026.
28. 40% of banks and insurers reported lacking sufficient data management capabilities and software to provide comprehensive investor-grade data for ESG reporting and disclosures.
29. 65% of companies face at least one bottleneck in their supply chain, according to Marsh’s Sentrisk™ analysis, with global supply chain disruptions costing businesses an estimated $184 billion annually.
30. Nearly 33% of procurement managers reported an increase in cyberattacks on their supply chains in 2025, with this issue moving up the list of top concerns as organizations embrace digital transformation in 2026.

Strategic Implications for Financial Institution Leaders

These statistics suggest that third-party risk management has evolved into a strategic enterprise risk that demands:

• Board-level attention
• Resource investment
• Technological support

The data reveals several critical imperatives for financial services leaders. These two major actions that are imperative to getting started with proper third-party risk management in the financial sector.

The statistics demonstrate that the question is not whether third-party incidents will occur but rather whether institutions have invested sufficiently in detection and mitigation of potential risks.