In an increasingly competitive and regulated market, financial services firms are under pressure to reduce costs while maintaining high levels of service, compliance, and innovation. But traditional cost cutting alone isn’t enough. Strategic procurement offers a powerful (and often underutilised) lever for driving efficiency and value.
Here’s how procurement leaders in areas such as banking, insurance, fintech, and asset management can take a smarter approach to cost control and optimisation.
1. Implement category management
A mature category management strategy can deliver significant savings by taking a structured, strategic approach to each spend area. In financial services, typical high-impact categories include IT hardware, software & SAAS, professional services, facilities, and marketing.
By understanding the supplier landscape, demand drivers, and market trends, procurement can identify consolidation opportunities, reduce maverick spend, and negotiate more favourable terms.
2. Use data to drive better decisions
Cost optimisation requires clear visibility of what is really happening. Financial services firms often struggle with fragmented data across business units, making it hard to see where the real inefficiencies lie and therefore where the biggest, most immediate value can be created.
A unified spend analytics platform can provide deep insight into who’s spending what, with whom, and why, enabling procurement teams to find savings, prevent leakage, and spot patterns that can inform smarter sourcing decisions and more proactive updates to category strategies.
3. Reassess third-party relationships
From IT vendors to legal firms and consultants, financial institutions rely heavily on third-party providers. Regular contract reviews and supplier performance evaluations can uncover opportunities to renegotiate rates, rationalise suppliers, secure volume curve rebates or transition to outcome-based pricing models.
Strategic supplier management doesn’t just save money- it also improves service delivery and reduces risk across the enterprise.
4. Embed cost control in procurement governance
Procurement should be a key gatekeeper for spend, but in many organisations, processes are still informal or decentralised. Introducing robust procurement policies, approval workflows, and clear spend thresholds ensures that purchasing decisions align with financial goals and strategic priorities.
Embedding procurement earlier in the sourcing process also prevents expensive, last-minute decisions made outside of policy.
5. Support transformation and growth
Cost control isn’t about cutting for the sake of it. In financial services, procurement can play a key role in enabling innovation, helping the business invest in emerging technologies, digital platforms, and new services while ensuring spend remains efficient, justified and value creating.
A forward-thinking procurement function adds value not just through savings, but by supporting long term business growth.
How Accelerate Procurement can help businesses within the finance sector
At Accelerate, our procurement consultants are experienced in working with businesses within the finance sector. We help financial services firms optimise their procurement function to achieve real, sustainable cost control. From category planning to supplier negotiation and process transformation, our procurement consultants bring sector expertise and practical insight to every engagement.