Canary Wharf · FCA and PRA regulated firms

IT support that stands up to regulatory scrutiny.

Managed IT, Microsoft 365 governance and cyber security for banks, investment firms, insurers and fintechs in Canary Wharf, run by an ISO 27001:2022 certified team that supports regulated financial firms today.

Built for Canary Wharf

A regulated firm’s IT is more than uptime

UK regulators expect you to oversee the IT providers you rely on, report significant incidents and produce evidence quickly. For in-scope firms, operational resilience rules add important business services, impact tolerances and scenario testing. Your compliance officer should not have to chase screenshots.

Cre8 IT runs the technical controls you own and produces the records that show they work: monthly reports on multi-factor authentication, patching and backups, access reviews and incident readiness. You keep governance and accountability. We make the evidence easy to find.

What Canary Wharf firms ask us for

Managed helpdesk and 24/7 emergency support
Microsoft 365 governance, identity and devices
A gap assessment against FCA and PRA operational resilience and outsourcing expectations
Cyber security services, from health audits to SOC as a Service
Evidence packs for reviews, audits and client due diligence
Help with ISO 27001 and Cyber Essentials

What the regulator expects

How we support FCA and PRA expectations

UK rules on operational resilience and outsourcing are principles-based and proportionate. These are the areas a supervisor or auditor is likely to test and what we do for each.

Governance and accountability

Your board and senior managers own operational resilience and cyber risk, and the Senior Managers and Certification Regime makes that accountability personal. We document the technical controls they rely on and keep them current.

Assets and risk

A live asset register and a map of the systems and providers behind your important business services, so your risk assessments rest on real data.

Protective controls

Multi-factor authentication, Conditional Access, device management, patching, encryption and endpoint protection, reported monthly.

Testing

Cyber health audits, penetration testing and recovery tests that support your scenario testing, with a tracked remediation plan.

Detection and response

Optional 24/7 monitoring through SOC as a Service, an incident plan we help you write and exercise, and a clear route to notify the FCA or PRA and, for personal data breaches, the ICO within 72 hours.

Providers and outsourcing

Under SYSC 8 and, for dual-regulated firms, the PRA’s SS2/21, you stay responsible for outsourced services. We expect to be assessed like any material provider and supply what you need to do it.

Summary for orientation, reviewed 25 September 2026. Confirm the current wording in the FCA Handbook, PRA Rulebook and SRA Standards and Regulations. This is not legal advice.

Where we help on data protection

Least-privilege access and regular access reviews
Encryption on devices and in transit
Logging that supports breach investigation
Retention settings in Microsoft 365 agreed with your compliance team
A tested route to notify the ICO within 72 hours

Data protection

UK GDPR, split into IT jobs and legal jobs

UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 are enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). They expect appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data, and notification of a reportable personal data breach to the ICO without undue delay and, where feasible, within 72 hours of becoming aware of it.

Access control, encryption, logging and retention are IT jobs, and we implement them. What personal data you hold, your lawful basis and your notices are legal jobs for your data protection officer or legal adviser.

How we work with you

From first assessment to steady state

1. Assess

A cyber health audit and gap assessment against FCA and PRA expectations and Cyber Essentials, with a prioritised plan.

2. Secure

A secure baseline: multi-factor authentication, Conditional Access, managed devices, endpoint protection, backup and recovery.

3. Evidence

Registers, reports and records collected into an evidence pack your compliance officer can use.

4. Operate

Helpdesk, monitoring and regular reviews, with reports written for your governing body.

Why Cre8 IT

Certified, experienced and open to scrutiny

We have been supporting businesses since 2012 and support regulated financial firms today. Our own information security management system is certified to ISO 27001:2022, and we can share our certificate and scope as part of your due diligence.

Our financial services clients include an advisory and investment firm in Abu Dhabi Global Market that started small and grew fast.

Our credentials

ISO 27001:2022

Information security management

ISO 9001

Quality management

Microsoft Partner

Certified partner

Guides

Guides for Canary Wharf firms

Sourced to the regulator’s own text, dated and written by a named specialist.

FCA and PRA

FCA and PRA IT requirements: what regulated firms need to evidence

A plain-English guide to UK operational resilience (SYSC 15A and SS1/21), outsourcing (SYSC 8 and SS2/21), the new incident and third-party reporting rules, and the evidence a regulated firm should be able to show.

7 min read · Reviewed 25 September 2026

Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 governance for regulated firms: a practical baseline

How to govern Microsoft 365 in an FCA-, PRA- or SRA-regulated firm: identity, devices, data, logging and licences, with a 30-day order of work.

4 min read · Reviewed 25 September 2026

Audit readiness

IT audit readiness for regulated firms: an evidence-first checklist

How to be ready when a regulator, auditor or client asks for proof of your IT and security controls: the evidence pack, a mock audit and a six-week plan.

3 min read · Reviewed 25 September 2026

FAQ

FCA and PRA questions

What does IT support for an FCA-regulated firm include?

Beyond a helpdesk, it includes secure configuration of identity, devices and Microsoft 365, patching and backup, monitoring, incident readiness and the regular reports that become your evidence. We also help you map these to your operational resilience and outsourcing obligations.

Can you write our operational resilience self-assessment?

We can help draft and maintain the technical parts: mapping the systems and providers behind each important business service, testing recovery and recording the results. The self-assessment itself must be approved by your board and owned by senior management, so we work alongside your compliance and risk teams rather than in place of them.

Does our IT provider have to be based in Canary Wharf?

No. What matters is response times, security and oversight. Cre8 IT’s UK office is in South Wales, and our engineers work remotely and on site, depending on the arrangement.

Who is responsible if our IT provider has an incident?

You are. Under SYSC 8, outsourcing does not relieve a firm of its regulatory obligations, and the PRA’s SS2/21 sets the same expectation for dual-regulated firms. That is why contracts should require prompt incident notification, and why you should supervise the provider.

How long does onboarding a Canary Wharf firm take?

It depends on your size, your current set-up and how much needs fixing. After an initial assessment we agree a plan and dates with you and start with the controls that reduce the most risk.

Talk to a specialist about your FCA and PRA obligations

Tell us about your firm and your regulator, and we will suggest a practical first step, whether that is a gap assessment or ongoing support.