On 8 July 2026, HM Treasury issued a report that sets out evidence on the economic and financial benefits of operational resilience, with a particular focus on cyber disruption in the financial sector. It explores how resilience affects financial performance, recovery from disruption and longer-term growth, and how these impacts are felt both within financial services and more widely across the UK economy.
Among the report’s conclusions are:
- Cyber risk is becoming more severe and more complex, particularly within increasingly digital and interconnected operating environments.
- The financial consequences of cyber disruption have changed over time. Cyber incidents are no longer confined to short-lived technical outages. They can generate material profit and loss impacts, affect firm value, and undermine trust where they expose broader weaknesses in governance, controls or operational resilience.
- Resilience outcomes are shaped not only by the level of investment but by how effectively capabilities are prioritised and integrated. Strong outcomes are associated with a combination of foundational controls, such as patching and vulnerability management, alongside targeted improvements in detection, response and recovery.
- Resilience is increasingly relevant beyond risk mitigation alone. Organisations with stronger resilience capabilities tend to sustain performance more effectively through disruption and are better positioned to support ongoing transformation, innovation and growth.