Financial services procurement: Your 2025 roadmap

B2B procurement professionals have never had it easy. But when you throw in the complex regulations and unique supplier risks financial institutions face, procurement becomes an entirely new challenge.

While financial services procurement leaders still have to worry about cost-saving opportunities, budget optimization, and spend management, they also need to consider factors like audit trails, purchasing compliance drift, and decentralized spend. And when financial organizations violate regulations, the effects are typically far more serious. 

If you’re feeling the pressure as a procurement professional at a financial institution, you’re not alone. Adopting the following tools, strategies, and best practices can help lessen your compliance burdens while keeping a tight grip on policy adherence.

What is financial services procurement?

Financial services procurement is the process of purchasing goods and services for organizations in the financial services sector, such as investment firms, banks, and insurance companies. This requires a specialized operation focused on the high-compliance, audit-intensive needs of finance.

Procurement in the financial services industry differs from general B2B procurement because it faces higher scrutiny when it comes to data protection, security, and regulatory compliance. The consequences of non-compliance are typically more severe, which means engaging the right supplier relationships is also more critical. 

According to the FDIC, regulators don’t differentiate between third-party vendor compliance and the compliance of financial institutions themselves. This means that any lapse in your vendor’s compliance is treated as your own violation, raising the stakes on supplier management.

Financial services procurement also requires more intricate contracts and a more proactive approach to risk management and supplier performance.

How financial services procurement is evolving

Procurement professionals at financial services companies are facing a lot of pressure due to evolutions shaped by:

• Digital transformation

• Responsible purchasing expectations

• Distributed workforces

• Supply chain volatility

Here are a few of the industry changes impacting financial services procurement leaders today.

Trends shaping the future of procurement in finance

As with many industries, the financial services procurement sector is leaning heavily into artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. Financial institutions are using procurement platforms and generative AI to create custom procurement experiences that offer supplier recommendations based on organizational sourcing needs and budget optimization techniques adapted from spend predictions.

Financial services organizations are also facing increasing pressure to align procurement efforts with socially responsible purchasing (SRP) standards. This means evaluating suppliers not only on price, quality, and compliance but also on ethical practices, social responsibility, and sustainability. 

The rise of agile procurement and decentralized decision-making

Agile procurement is a flexible procurement strategy that allows teams to make faster decisions based on market changes, supply chain disruptions, and evolving business needs. This is a big advantage considering 57 percent of business executives report missing opportunities because they can’t make decisions quickly enough, according to a 2025 PwC Pulse Survey.

Agile procurement focuses on shorter procurement cycles to reduce costs, improve supplier collaboration, and maintain a competitive advantage. Organizations achieve this by spreading decision-making authority more broadly, which helps shorten approval times.

How technology is driving transformation and efficiency

Beyond AI and automation, technology is increasing operational efficiency through data-driven and strategic procurement. Predictive analytics can help organizations anticipate purchasing needs and budget accordingly, while access to real-time spend data allows for faster responses to market changes.

Mobile procurement is also growing in popularity, enabling procurement teams to purchase, approve, and manage orders on the go. Users can capture and approve invoices on their mobile devices and respond quickly to vendor messages, improving supplier relationship management.

Navigating regulatory compliance and risk management

Keeping on top of regulatory requirements is critical in financial services procurement. Using the right tools and tactics can help you stay ahead of internal audits and regulatory scrutiny. 

Here are a few ways you can manage procurement risk when dealing with financial data. 

Implementing robust approval workflows

Comprehensive approval workflows increase accountability and transparency by ensuring all purchasing activities are internally compliant and financially sound. One way to establish more financial controls is to set approval thresholds, which are preset financial limits that determine the authorization level needed to make a purchase.

Digital tools can help with this kind of policy enforcement. For example, budget management tools can allow you set spending limits and allocate different budgets to different groups. Buyers can see their budgets to help them make more informed purchasing decisions. Smart business buying tools can also let you establish pre-purchase approval workflows or place restrictions on certain items.

Fostering strategic supplier relationships

Maintaining procurement compliance with third-party vendors requires rigorous supplier vetting. This involves establishing clear and meticulous evaluation criteria, conducting thorough due diligence, and continuously monitoring suppliers based on the following factors:

• Ethical and compliance standards

• Performance

• Financial stability

• Risk assessment

• Reputation

• Alignment with your business needs

Once you’ve identified the right vendors, you must ensure buyers only purchase from these suppliers to maintain audit readiness. Tools like Guided Buying (a Business Prime feature) make this easy by allowing you to steer buyers toward your organization’s preferred suppliers and block purchases from other vendors. 

Leveraging data-driven decision-making

Modern procurement is shifting away from simply controlling costs to focusing more on driving measurable business impact. You can achieve this by leveraging real-time data analytics to:

• Anticipate challenges and opportunities

• Forecast budgets with greater accuracy

• Inform policy improvements through automation

• Approach problem-solving with evidence-based initiatives

Amazon Business Analytics, for example, offers spend visualizations, trend analyses, and streamlined reconciliation to help you make better purchasing decisions, ensure budget accuracy, and enforce spending policies. 

How to optimize cash flow and working capital

Financial services companies need spend visibility across departments and flexible payment terms to optimize cash flow, which enables greater financial stability and protection against market volatility. When your clients are delayed in making payments to you, it can hinder your ability to compensate employees or pursue new business opportunities. 

Here are a few ways you can avoid these issues.

Streamline invoice management

Optimizing and automating the lifecycle of your invoices speeds up the process and makes it less prone to errors. Accelerated invoice processing leads to faster payments, which can help prevent late payment penalties and improve financial forecasting. 

Tools like 3-Way Match can help by automatically comparing your order information, invoice, and item receipt to close each purchase order for quicker reconciliation. You can even use the Amazon Business mobile app to scan packages with your mobile device and manage this process on the go.

Use flexible payment options for financial institutions

Some procurement partners offer flexible, no-interest payment options that allow you to extend your payment terms for certain purchases. This can be helpful when short-term cash flow is tight or you’re waiting on incoming payments. 

For example, eligible customers may have the option to Pay by Invoice, which lets you delay your payment by 30 days with no hidden fees or minimum purchase requirements. At checkout, you may also be able to pay using Affirm, which lets you split your payments over time.

Enhance spend visibility and analytics

To optimize cash flow, you need to know where your money is going. Interactive dashboards—like those available through Spend Visibility (another Business Prime feature)—let you quickly visualize purchasing trends, evaluate suppliers, and understand where you can save, making it easier to budget effectively.

Financial services procurement best practices

Having the right tools is helpful, but only if you know how to put them into practice. Here are some steps you can take to elevate your financial services procurement.

Promote more responsible procurement

Socially responsible procurement (SRP) is becoming increasingly important for stakeholders worldwide. They don’t want vanity PR statements—they want proof in the form of specific actions and measurable results.

Guided Buying can help promote responsible purchasing among your buyers easy-to-follow visual signposts for buyers. This can help ensure more of your purchases are made with SRP in mind.

Embrace agile and data-driven decision-making

If you have rigorous PO approval processes that require involvement from higher-ups, consider implementing a new workflow that distributes approval authority among department leaders. This can help speed up procurement cycles and ensure the people closest to the problem are involved in handling it.

Foster strategic supplier partnerships

Always do your due diligence when exploring new supplier relationships, and make sure to evaluate current suppliers continually. Just because a supplier relationship has been perfect for years doesn’t mean things can’t change quickly. Create a system of checks (along with assigning responsibility for performing them) to ensure regular monitoring.

Continuously optimize and innovate

The best way to continue improving your procurement process is to determine success metrics and benchmarks. This way, you have specific goals and can measure whether you achieved them.

Examples of financial services procurement KPIs include:

• Contract compliance rate: Measures how many contracts are executed according to their agreed-upon terms and conditions

• Average cost per transaction: Helps measure whether your saving strategies are working

• Diverse supplier spend percentage: Measures how much of your procurement spend is going to diverse suppliers

• Service-level agreement (SLA) attainment: Measures a supplier’s ability to consistently meet or exceed the agreed-upon SLA terms

   

Leverage technology for procurement excellence

No matter how you decide to go about improving your financial services procurement, technology is at the heart of the conversation. Innovations in AI, automation, predictive analytics, and more have the power to transform your procurement processes and ease compliance concerns.

Amazon Business empowers you to meet procurement challenges head-on with solutions designed for control, compliance, and clarity. Tools like the following help uphold rigorous standards without sacrificing speed or simplicity:

• Guided Buying for policy enforcement

• Real-time spend tracking and reporting

• Seamless procurement system integrations

• Automated approval workflows and purchase controls

   

Modernize procurement with confidence. Contact sales to discover how Amazon Business can help your financial team simplify purchasing, boost compliance, and gain full visibility.