For cybersecurity professionals in the financial services sector, the pressure is relentless. It's not just the external threat actors; it's the mounting, overlapping demands from regulators that are taxing resources, draining budgets, and leading to what is now officially recognized as compliance fatigue. The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is, understandably, under pressure—and stressed.
The new Omega Systems Regulatory Pressure & Compliance Fatigue in Financial Services report offers a crucial snapshot of this escalating crisis. Based on a survey of more than 300 U.S. financial services executives, the findings reveal that the compliance burden is no longer just a governance issue; it's a critical security roadblock that prevents teams from focusing on actual defense.
The report confirms that the current wave of oversight—from the SEC's new cybersecurity disclosure rules to granular mandates like NYDFS Part 500 and FINRA's expanding oversight—has pushed security and compliance teams to a breaking point.
The sheer volume of changing requirements is crippling operational efficiency. According to the report, a striking 42% of financial executives cite staying current with evolving requirements as their biggest compliance roadblock.
This inertia is a direct result of relying on manual, outdated processes. When teams are spending all their time updating spreadsheets and chasing documentation for audits, they lack the capacity to implement and monitor proactive security measures. This creates an exploitable gap: the systems are documented, but they are not necessarily hardened.
What keeps the CFO up at night?
The CFO's involvement in cybersecurity has skyrocketed, driven by the financial consequences of non-compliance: fines, litigation, and market-shaking reputational damage. As a CFO Dive article noted, cybersecurity pressures now heavily weigh on financial services CFOs.
When a CFO assesses cyber risk, their concerns are intrinsically tied to business impact and the certainty of evidence.
While the CISO worries about securing the firewall, the CFO worries about the cost of friction. The report highlights that moving from manual processes to continuous monitoring is not just a technology upgrade; it's a financial necessity to control escalating compliance costs. Inefficient manual procedures mean more staff time spent on non-revenue-generating compliance tasks, directly impacting the bottom line.
The SEC's mandate for timely and accurate disclosure of material cyber incidents has made security an immediate financial risk. CFOs are concerned that a lapse in documentation or a failure to implement a control properly could lead to regulatory action and severe financial penalties. They need assurance that their investment in security translates into verifiable, auditable proof of control.
Ultimately, a CFO's concern is about the perception of risk by the market. The report concludes with a powerful statement that resonates directly with investor relations: "Evidence, not promises, defines resilience."
In today's market, investors scrutinize cybersecurity posture as a key indicator of a company's overall health. CFOs are demanding the ability to demonstrate, not just claim, that the firm is resilient, using technology that provides transparent, continuous proof of security and compliance.
From fatigue to federation: the path to modernization
The solution to compliance fatigue, as articulated by the report, is modernization. Financial firms must stop treating compliance as a separate, reactive reporting function and integrate it directly into the security stack.
This means transitioning away from manual spreadsheet audits toward Managed Security Service Providers (MSSPs) or platforms that offer continuous compliance monitoring. By automating the evidence collection and control validation process, teams can shift their focus from chasing compliance to enhancing defense. When the documentation is generated automatically, the security team is freed up to concentrate on the evolving threats that are truly keeping the organization at risk.
Some key findings from the 300 executives surveyed:
-
42% cite staying current with evolving requirements as their biggest compliance roadblock.
-
36% lack sufficient internal compliance expertise.
-
29% say budgets are stretched too thin.
-
54% still rely on spreadsheets or in-house tools to benchmark security controls.
-
The SEC's withdrawal of proposed cybersecurity rules in June 2025 added a layer of ambiguity just as expectations were tightening. Omega's data show a split reaction: 37% of firms believe the withdrawal weakened their posture, while 32% say it strengthened it by providing more flexibility.
-
More than half of financial firms (52%) still manage cybersecurity internally, but those working with MSSPs or in co-managed models (17%) demonstrate stronger audit readiness and faster response times.
-
MSSP-supported firms test for vulnerabilities more frequently (56% conduct continuous or monthly testing versus 38% of internally managed firms), detect and contain breaches faster (16% vs. 25% requiring two to four weeks), and maintain stronger documentation through continuous monitoring and audit logs. These capabilities give firms the verifiable evidence regulators now expect—turning compliance from a reactive obligation into a measurable operational discipline.
"CFOs view compliance as a cost; CIOs view it as a process," the report said. "Neither perspective, on its own, creates resilience."
