Managed IT Support & Cyber Security for Financial Services

Modern financial firms need more than a helpdesk. They need a managed partner who governs Microsoft 365, layers cyber security, maintains tested backups, supports secure remote access for advisers and provides senior strategic input. Reactive break-fix is no longer enough: regulated businesses can’t afford queue-based support, weak controls or undocumented processes when clients, regulators and insurers ask hard questions.

Start with the fundamentals: MFA on every account, managed EDR on every endpoint, Conditional Access policies, advanced email defence, independent Microsoft 365 backup and security awareness training. Then layer in DLP, identity monitoring, Cyber Essentials alignment and a documented incident response plan. The goal is a defensible, evidenced baseline that protects clients and stands up to insurer and regulator scrutiny.

Microsoft 365 holds your client correspondence, KYC documents, contracts, financial data and internal IP, making it the highest-value target in your business. Default tenant settings are not secure or audit-ready: legacy authentication is often enabled, SharePoint is over-shared, guest access is uncontrolled and there is no third-party backup. A properly governed tenant with MFA, Conditional Access, retention, DLP and independent backup dramatically reduces the risk of email compromise, payment fraud and data loss.

Look for a UK-based managed partner with genuine sector experience, named senior engineers, predictable response SLAs, mature Microsoft 365 expertise, integrated cyber security and a clear strategic review cadence. Avoid providers who are reactive, sell security as a separate upsell, or can’t evidence their own controls. Your IT partner becomes part of your operational and regulatory posture, so choose them accordingly.

Our average response time is under 15 minutes across all support channels. 98% of issues are resolved on first contact by our UK-based engineers, and the majority are handled remotely without an adviser ever needing to leave their desk. Critical incidents, including suspected breaches and major outages, are escalated immediately under documented major-incident procedures.

Operational resilience for a financial firm means more than a backup file. It means independent, immutable backup of Microsoft 365 and on-prem systems, rehearsed recovery scenarios, redundant connectivity, secure device management and a clear plan for what happens if the office or a key system is unavailable. ATS builds and tests this as part of the managed service so leadership can answer continuity questions from clients, auditors and regulators with confidence.

Yes. We build environments aligned to Cyber Essentials and to the controls insurers and institutional clients now expect: MFA, EDR, Conditional Access, independent backup, security awareness training and documented policies. We provide the evidence packs and reporting needed for renewals, audits and client onboarding questionnaires.

Yes. ATS is based in Arundel and supports firms across Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and London on-site, with managed IT and cyber security delivered to financial services businesses throughout the UK using secure remote tooling. On-site engineering visits are scheduled where they add real value for office moves, hardware rollouts or critical incidents.

Core support is £30 to £48 per user per month, and Complete IT and security is £55 to £90 per user per month, both on a rolling annual agreement. Ad hoc work is £100 an hour, £340 a half day or £650 a day. All prices exclude VAT, and the exact figure depends on your team size, number of offices and the level of security you need. The full breakdown is on our IT support pricing page.

Our helpdesk is open from 9am to 5.30pm on working days, and urgent out-of-hours support is available when you need it. Monitoring runs around the clock.

If you are a small advice firm or broker, probably not directly. The FCA operational resilience rules apply to banks, building societies, PRA-designated investment firms, insurers, recognised investment exchanges, enhanced scope SM&CR firms and payment and e-money firms, which had until 31 March 2025 to show they could stay within impact tolerances for their important business services. Every firm still needs systems and controls that suit its business, and that is where we help: tested backups, a continuity plan and documented controls you can show when asked.

Under Principle 11, firms must already tell the FCA about anything it would reasonably expect notice of. New incident reporting rules come into force on 18 March 2027 and will apply to almost all FCA-regulated firms, with most solo-regulated firms completing a short standard report. The FCA says that in 2025, over 40% of cyber incidents reported to it involved a third party, so your suppliers’ security matters too. We keep logs, alerts and incident notes so you have the facts you need to report quickly.

The FCA Handbook (COBS 9.5) sets minimum periods for suitability records: indefinitely for pension transfers, pension conversions, pension opt-outs and FSAVCs; five years for life policies, personal and stakeholder pensions and defined contribution occupational pension benefits; and three years for everything else. We set backup and retention in Microsoft 365 so those records are kept, protected and recoverable for as long as you need them.