The latest CCM Institute benchmark reveals a strong correlation between the quality of commercial and contract management (CCM) and an organization’s ability to manage uncertainty. In industries facing geopolitical, technological, and regulatory turbulence - banking being a case in point - adaptability and resilience are now strategic capabilities, not back-office concerns.
Our findings show that the banking sector remains constrained by risk-averse operating models and the extent of current uncertainty has potential to make it worse. Layers of approval, siloed accountability, and a culture of compliance have produced fragmented decision-making. Banks perceive high uncertainty but respond with more controls - the opposite of what resilience demands.
McKinsey’s recent paper, Operational resilience has become critical: How are banks responding?, reaches a similar conclusion. It observes that many institutions have treated non-financial risk management as a compliance burden rather than a source of performance advantage. The result is brittle systems, complex frameworks, and supplier networks that mirror the same fragmentation seen internally.
SRM as a Core Dependency of Resilience
Third-party dependence is now one of banking’s greatest vulnerabilities. McKinsey lists third-party risk alongside cyber and technology risk as a top operational exposure - one that is rising, not falling. Banks increasingly rely on external providers for data, cloud infrastructure, analytics, payments, and compliance services. When those partners fail, the bank fails with them.
This interdependence makes Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) a strategic function. It is no longer about measuring performance or negotiating price; it is about co-managing operational continuity, data integrity, and shared reputation.
Resilience depends on how well suppliers are integrated into the bank’s own governance and recovery frameworks, through transparent information flows, clear ownership of critical services, and joint playbooks for disruption response.
From Control to Collaboration
Both the CCM Institute and McKinsey research point to the same inflection point:
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Today’s model
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Tomorrow’s model
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Compliance and control
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Coordination and collaboration
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Static, document-based contracts
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Dynamic, data-enabled agreements
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Siloed supplier oversight
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Integrated SRM across critical services
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Annual reviews and audits
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Continuous monitoring and shared dashboards
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Risk aversion
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Managed adaptability
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Leading banks are already simplifying their supplier portfolios and developing tiered SRM models, combining collaborative governance for critical partners with automated oversight for routine providers. The contract becomes the operational interface: a live source of data that feeds resilience dashboards, tracks service stability, and enables early warning.
The Commercial Imperative
Resilience is not merely a regulatory requirement, it has become the foundation of competitiveness and trust. The commercial and contract management community sits at the crossroads of this transformation. By linking contracting, SRM, and risk management into a single coherent framework, they can turn control systems into sources of agility and insight.
Banks that make this shift will not just survive disruption, they will be able to use it as a source of advantage. In a world defined by uncertainty, it’s the strength of a bank’s relationships, not its rules, that will define its resilience.
Author
Tim Cummins: An international, cross-industry career that has moved from corporate management to extensive research, advisory and capability development services to public, private and third sector organisations. Tim has lived and worked in the UK, France (3 years) and United States (20 years), building an impressive research and entrepreneurial record, with demonstrated commitment to delivering social benefit. As Founder and President, World Commerce & Contracting (formerly International Association for Contract & Commercial Management), Tim has built a 72,000 member worldwide non-profit association which increasingly influences commercial policies and contracting practices in major corporations and governments. In September 2019, he was presented with the Financial Times ‘Market Shaper of the Year’ Award. Tim was until recently Professor and Chair, International Commercial & Contract Management, University of Leeds, School of Law, where he taught and led development of inter-disciplinary commercial programs. Prior to founding World Commerce & Contracting, Tim was on the Chairman’s staff at IBM Corporation and led the development of worldwide commercial processes and skills. His early career included management roles in banking, automotive and aerospace industries, where he led negotiations up to $1.5 billion in value. He has served in advisory roles for government departments in various countries, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and Japan.