DORA Compliance in the Financial Sector
What is DORA
The DORA regulation (Digital Operational Resilience Act) is an EU framework aimed at strengthening digital operational resilience and cybersecurity in the financial sector. It harmonizes the requirements for financial institutions and their IT service providers so that they can better withstand, respond to, and recover from ICT disruptions, cyberattacks, or system failures.
Who is affected by DORA
DORA applies to almost all players in the financial sector. Critical ICT third-party providers (e.g., cloud and IT service providers) that work for financial institutions also fall under DORA, provided they are classified as essential. DORA applies to:
- Banks and credit institutions
- Insurance companies and reinsurers
- Securities firms, asset managers, and investment companies
- Payment service providers and e-money institutions
- Crypto custody and crypto asset service providers
Extensive requirements and tight deadlines
4-hour rule, registration obligation, TLPT – DORA links over 40 Regulatory & Implementing Technical Standards with ambitious deadlines.
- Initial report of severe ICT incidents within 4 hours
- Information register of all ICT service providers to BaFin since April 28, 2025
- Threat-Led Penetration Testing (TLPT) at least every 3 years
→ Failures lead to fines, supervisory measures, and reputational damage. Early implementation minimizes cyber risks and reduces audit efforts.
Our roadmap to DORA readiness
DORA performance assessment – gap analysis including RTS/ITS mapping, measurable roadmap.
Implementation & automation – incident runbooks, tool for document control and risk management, 24-hour RTO workflows, TLPT preparation.
Managed cloud & continuous compliance – operation, monitoring, and reporting: audit-ready by design.
Vertical target groups – What changes specifically
Self-check – How DORA-ready is your institution
Answer five questions in 60 seconds:
- Do you have a documented incident process that can also cover the 4-hour reporting obligations?
- Have you already submitted your information register in its final form?
- Has a risk-based testing program been developed, including a TLPT plan if necessary?
- Are your contracts already DORA-compliant, e.g., regarding service level exit clauses for critical service providers?
- Do you update your ICT risk management quarterly based on new RTS/ITS?
Why PCG? Your benefits at a glance
Industry expertise
Practical solutions
Time savings & resource efficiency
Holistic approach
Future-proofing
Collaborative support
Become DORA-ready now
