Compliance Without the Chaos: A Smarter SRM Foundation

When a leading European bank faced an impending regulatory inspection by the European Banking Authority (EBA), it needed more than a paper trail. It needed to prove it had control. Supplier relationships had become fragmented after waves of internal change, cost-cutting pressures had eroded trust, and technology to support supplier management was virtually non-existent.

The challenge wasn’t just to implement a tool, but to use it to rebuild structure, embed consistency, and pass one of the most rigorous regulatory inspections in the sector.

State of Flux supported the implementation of SupplierBase while developing supplier management processes that would stand up to scrutiny – and set the foundation for long-term maturity.

Challenge

Regulatory pressure was the immediate trigger.
The EBA required comprehensive evidence of effective third-party management, including visibility of contractual commitments, performance oversight, and historical action tracking. With only ten weeks before the inspection, the client had no central repository of supplier information, no audit trail, and no process consistency across teams.

Adding to the complexity was a recent period of rapid team turnover. With limited institutional memory, inconsistent practices, and trust issues between suppliers and internal teams, the business had little time to act.

Our Approach

We delivered a rapid deployment of SupplierBase, configured specifically to support the inspection alongside targeted process design to demonstrate governance and control.

Key areas of activity included:

• Contract Management
  A centralised contract repository was built using SupplierBase, capturing all relevant documentation, metadata, and history. This created full audit transparency and allowed the client to track and manage multiple contracts per supplier, an essential requirement for regulatory clarity.

• Performance Management
  We helped reintroduce a standardised approach to supplier performance monitoring. Using SupplierBase, teams could score suppliers consistently, assign remedial actions, and track progress over time – all documented within the system.

• Treatment Strategies
  Updated treatment strategies were embedded into the platform, ensuring repeated activities like reviews, KPIs, and meetings were not only planned, but automated. This gave both internal and regulatory stakeholders confidence in the repeatability of governance.

• Team Capability and Business Case Development
  In parallel, we supported the client in developing a business case for growing a centralised supplier management function. With the right roles, tools and structure in place, the foundations for long-term maturity were built in tandem with the short-term inspection need.

Outcomes

The client successfully passed its 10-week regulatory inspection – with SupplierBase acting as the proof point for process integrity and supplier oversight.

They were able to demonstrate:

• A fully centralised contract repository

• Historical audit tracking

• Performance monitoring on critical suppliers

• Structured supplier treatment strategies

• Action assignment and tracking

• Clear, auditable reporting and evidence logs

More importantly, the business left the inspection with something more than a clean bill of health. It had a repeatable, scalable supplier management function, supported by a system that brought structure, trust and oversight back into the process.

In financial services, control is not just a compliance requirement, it’s a competitive advantage. SupplierBase gave this client both.

Looking to meet regulatory expectations and improve supplier outcomes? Explore SupplierBase or speak to our team.