Best Penetration Testing for Financial Services
The best penetration testing for UK financial services in 2026 comes from CREST-accredited providers with UK-based testers for data residency, alignment to DORA and FCA operational-resilience expectations, a retest included for remediation evidence, and reporting that satisfies regulators and banking-partner questionnaires. This guide compares 7 providers: Precursor Security, NCC Group, Pen Test Partners, Redscan (Kroll), JUMPSEC, OnSecurity, and Bulletproof.
Seven penetration testing companies compared for UK financial services buyers, on the criteria a regulated firm actually weighs: where the testers sit and whether data stays in the UK, DORA and FCA alignment, verifiable CREST accreditation, and reporting your regulators and banking partners will accept.
We are Precursor Security, and we have ranked ourselves first on this list.
Rather than pretend otherwise, we publish the selection criteria in full and describe every provider fairly, including where a rival is the better fit. The firms below are genuinely good at what they do; the differences are in data residency, transparency, accreditation, and who each serves best in a regulated environment. Confirm any CREST claim in the independent CREST member directory.
Seven firms, side by side
| Provider | CREST status | Pricing published | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Precursor Security | Pen Test + VA + SOC | Yes | From £2,500 |
| 2. NCC Group | Member firm | No | On application |
| 3. Pen Test Partners | Member firm | No | On application |
| 4. Redscan (Kroll) | Member firm | No | On application |
| 5. JUMPSEC | Member firm + NCSC CHECK | No | On application |
| 6. OnSecurity | Member firm | No | Instant quote via platform |
| 7. Bulletproof | Member firm | No | On application |
Verified against each provider's public website, August 2026. "No" under pricing means a rate was not published at the time of writing, not that a provider is more expensive. Redscan is part of Kroll (US-headquartered).
The 7 best for UK financial
services in 2026
1. Precursor Security
Precursor holds triple CREST accreditation across Penetration Testing, Vulnerability Assessment, and Security Operations Centre. Every tester is a UK-based, DBS-checked employee, which matters when a regulated firm needs its customer and transaction data handled in-jurisdiction with no offshoring. Testing starts from £2,500 at approximately £1,200 per consultant day, published on the website, with a retest included in every engagement and a written quote within 24 hours. Reports are built to satisfy FCA-facing auditors and the security questionnaires banking partners send, and findings feed detection rules through the closed-loop model, which suits a sector that is expected to assure controls continuously, not once a year.
Trade-off: A UK mid-market specialist rather than a global enterprise brand, and it does not deliver threat-led CBEST or TIBER-EU testing that the very largest institutions run.
2. NCC Group
NCC Group is one of the largest security consultancies in the world, headquartered in Manchester, with a deep research pedigree and the capacity to staff very large, multi-region assessment programmes. For a large or systemically important institution running a global rollout, few firms match its bench depth.
Trade-off: Engagement model and pricing are built for enterprise procurement. Costs are on application.
3. Pen Test Partners
Pen Test Partners are the UK's best-known specialists in embedded and operational technology, and their public research is consistently cited. For a financial firm whose risk lives in payment hardware, ATMs, or specialist devices rather than standard web and infrastructure, they belong on the shortlist.
Trade-off: A specialist focus; standard web and network testing is not their distinctive strength. Pricing on application.
4. Redscan (Kroll)
Redscan, now part of Kroll, pairs a large practitioner organisation with the backing of a global incident response and forensics business. For a financial firm that wants its tester, its IR retainer, and its forensics provider under one roof at enterprise scale, the Kroll relationship is the draw.
Trade-off: Kroll is US-headquartered, which matters for data residency, and the engagement model leans enterprise. Pricing on application.
5. JUMPSEC
JUMPSEC holds NCSC CHECK status alongside CREST membership, with a strong red teaming and adversary-simulation practice. For a financial firm with PSN-connected or government-adjacent systems that mandate CHECK delivery, that combination is the differentiator.
Trade-off: Pricing on application.
6. OnSecurity
OnSecurity runs a platform-first, pentest-as-a-service model with instant online quoting and quick scheduling. For a fintech that needs a test booked this week with minimal procurement friction ahead of a funding round or a banking-partner review, the platform model works well.
Trade-off: Quotes are generated through the platform rather than published as a rate card, and the model suits smaller, repeatable scopes.
7. Bulletproof
Bulletproof combines penetration testing with a broad compliance practice, including Cyber Essentials and PCI DSS support, which suits a smaller financial firm that wants testing and certification handled by a single supplier.
Trade-off: A generalist breadth play rather than a testing specialist. Pricing on application.
How we ranked them for financial services
Six criteria that matter specifically to a regulated financial firm, each something you can verify without taking anyone's word for it. Weighting is ours; the facts are checkable.
Where the testers physically sit and whether any work is offshored. When a test touches customer records, transaction data, or production systems, keeping it in-jurisdiction with vetted UK testers simplifies your data-handling obligations and auditor answers.
Whether the provider tests to support operational resilience obligations, not just runs a scan. Note that DORA threat-led testing (TLPT, aligned to TIBER-EU) is a separate specialist scheme; most firms need standard DORA-supporting testing, not TLPT.
Company and individual CREST accreditation, checkable in the public directory. It is the accreditation most UK financial firms and their auditors look for on a penetration testing supplier.
Whether verification of your fixes is included or sold back as a second engagement. A regulated firm needs remediation evidence for auditors, insurers, and banking partners, and paying twice for it is avoidable.
Whether the report has an executive summary, business impact, and prioritised remediation that an FCA-facing auditor and a banking partner's security questionnaire will accept, not raw scanner output.
Whether findings feed ongoing detection rather than sitting in a PDF until next year. A sector expected to assure controls continuously benefits from the closed-loop model.
Red flags for a regulated
financial firm
Whichever firm you choose, including us, walk away if you see these.
Offshore testers handling regulated data
Ask where the testers on your engagement physically sit and whether any work is subcontracted overseas. For a regulated firm, data residency and vetting are not paperwork, they are the answers you give auditors and banking partners.
A scan dressed up as a penetration test
Engagements priced under £500 a day are automated scans with a human cover sheet. Ask how many days of manual testing, by whom, with what certifications. A regulator wants evidence of real testing, not a tool report.
POA-only pricing under a regulatory deadline
A firm that cannot indicate a day rate before a discovery call adds procurement drag when you are working to an FCA, DORA, or banking-partner timeline. UK CREST day rates run £1,000 to £1,500.
No retest, so no remediation evidence
A test without verification of your fixes is half a service. If the retest is a separate paid engagement, your remediation evidence for auditors and insurers costs double.
Accreditation that does not check out
Verify every CREST and CHECK claim in the official directories. Do not confuse threat-led CBEST or TIBER-EU capability, which few firms hold, with standard CREST penetration testing.
Reports written for machines, not the board
Ask for a redacted sample. If it reads like raw scanner output with no executive summary, business impact, or prioritised remediation, your board, auditors, and banking partners will get nothing from it.
Financial services penetration testing prices
CREST-accredited testing runs £1,000 to £1,500 per consultant day. At Precursor's published rate of approximately £1,200 per day: external network from £2,500, web application from £3,750, internal network from £6,250, and full multi-scope assessments from £10,000. Whole-programme cost for a regulated firm is on the financial services page.
Full cost guide with worked examplesMore on securing a regulated financial firm and the services referenced above.
Compare us against anyone on this list.
UK-based, DBS-checked testers for data residency. Fixed pricing published before you call. A written quote within 24 hours of scoping. Retest included.
Penetration testing for financial services
The questions regulated firms ask most when comparing UK providers.
UK penetration testing runs from £2,500 for a small external network test to £25,000+ for a full multi-scope assessment, at roughly £1,000 to £1,500 per consultant day from a CREST-accredited provider. For financial services specifically, a fintech typically budgets an annual web application and external test; a mid-sized payment processor or wealth manager usually runs quarterly testing across a wider scope. Most firms price on application; Precursor publishes its rates. The whole-programme cost for a regulated firm, including monitoring and compliance, is set out on our financial services security page.
Yes. The EU Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) requires financial entities to test their ICT systems regularly, including vulnerability assessments and penetration testing, as part of operational resilience. The most significant entities must additionally run threat-led penetration testing (TLPT) aligned to the TIBER-EU framework, which is a specialist, regulator-driven scheme. Precursor delivers CREST-accredited penetration testing that supports DORA's broader testing obligations; it does not deliver TIBER-EU threat-led testing, which a handful of specialist providers run for the largest institutions.
UK regulators expect firms to identify and remediate vulnerabilities on a risk-based cadence, with testing proportionate to the firm's size and the sensitivity of the data and services it handles. In practice that means at least annual penetration testing by a recognised, accredited provider, additional testing after significant change, and evidence that findings were remediated and verified. CREST accreditation is the accreditation most UK financial firms and their auditors look for.
For many regulated firms, yes. Where the test touches customer records, transaction data, or production systems, keeping the testing in-jurisdiction with UK-based, vetted testers simplifies data-handling obligations and the answers you give on banking-partner and auditor questionnaires. Ask any provider where the testers on your engagement physically sit and whether any work is offshored. Precursor uses only UK-based, DBS-checked employees.
UK financial firms commonly shortlist a mix of specialists and larger consultancies. This guide compares seven: Precursor Security, NCC Group, Pen Test Partners, Redscan (Kroll), JUMPSEC, OnSecurity, and Bulletproof. The right choice depends on where the testers sit, whether pricing is published, whether a retest is included for your remediation evidence, and whether the firm can produce reports that satisfy your regulators and banking partners. Confirm any CREST accreditation in the public directory at crest-approved.org.