MSP Comparison:
The Best MSP for Financial Services Firms in New York
Finding the right managed service provider (MSP) can supercharge efficiency and security—while the wrong one adds cost and risk. In New York’s financial sector, firms must meet NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500, GLBA Safeguards, PCI DSS, and evolving SEC Regulation S-P requirements, so your MSP needs proven compliance depth—not just generic IT support.
In the financial services sector, data security challenges and regulations such as SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley Act), PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act complicate things even further. This means that financial services firms in need of an MSP need to narrow their search to find a provider that not only delivers quality service but also specializes in the financial sector.
For NYC businesses, the market is crowded—and marketing hype is real. We evaluated more than fifteen providers and narrowed to a Top 3 based on financial-industry expertise, security posture, compliance readiness, service levels, and technology breadth.
Defining MSP:
What is a managed service provider?
An MSP is a business that manages and maintains IT hardware and software for other firms.
An MSP runs and secures your IT environment—from networks and endpoints to cloud platforms and collaboration. Services typically include 24/7 helpdesk, endpoint management (EDR), identity & access, SIEM/MDR, patching, cloud operations (Microsoft 365/Azure), and backup & disaster recovery (DR/BCP) aligned to frameworks like NIST CSF 2.0.
Similarly, how much support and what service-level a given MSP offers can vary widely. In some cases, an MSP may help with installation, monitoring, and provisioning, but leave network planning and issue remediation (i.e. fixing whatever is broken) to the client. MSPs on the other end of the spectrum may offer full support from planning to sourcing to provisioning to monitoring to issue remediation with on-site service and an SLA (service level agreement) around response times.
Why should financial services firms use an MSP?
MSPs handle the complexities of day-to-day IT, allowing you to focus on your core competencies.
Outsourcing day-to-day IT lets your team focus on clients, trading, and compliance—while reducing risk with mature incident response and recovery. The stakes are high: the average global cost of a data breach reached ~$4.88M in 2024.
Even if you could build a fully-staffed IT team from the ground up, it’s often not the most efficient use of resources. If you can outsource your IT management to a trusted 3rd party for a reasonable rate, you can keep internal recruiting, training, and energy on the activities that directly provide value to your customers.
Of course, the decision to outsource to a 3rd party, what aspects of your infrastructure should be outsourced, and what MSP is a good fit for you will vary depending on several criteria. Which leads us too…
What to look for in an MSP & our evaluation criteria
Here are the key factors we considered when picking the best financial services-focused MSP in New York.
Experience with banks, RIAs, broker-dealers, hedge funds, private equity, and insurance—including vendor due diligence, WSPs, and exam prep (FINRA/SEC). FINRA highlights common threats and core controls small firms should consider; your MSP should map to those controls
Hands-on support for NYDFS 23 NYCRR 500 (governance, MFA, risk assessments, IR plans), GLBA Safeguards Rule, PCI DSS for card data, and updated SEC Reg S-P breach-notification and safeguard expectations.
24/7 SOC with SIEM/MDR, phishing defense, vulnerability management, and zero-trust access—aligned to NIST CSF 2.0 outcomes.
Documented RPO/RTO, immutable backups, tested DR playbooks, and tabletop exercises tied to regulatory expectations. (The rising breach costs reinforce disciplined IR/DR.)
Transparent SLAs for response and resolution; on-site coverage across NYC (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, Staten Island); options for vCIO strategy and budgeting.
Deep support for Microsoft 365/Azure/Azure Virtual Desktop, identity/SSO, networking, and trading-floor realities—plus secure collaboration and DLP for client data.
The Top 3 Managed Service Providers for Financial Services Firms in New York
The top 3 MSPs servicing financial services businesses in the New York area are: Imagis, Xperteks, and Brainlink International, Inc.
1. Company overview
2. Financial industry expertise
Rating:
Industry Expertise:
Imagis focuses on the professional services (of which financial services are a subset), healthcare, and non-profit industries. As a result, they are well-versed in the challenges of compliance and data security that financial firms face.
Rating:
Industry Expertise:
Xperteks has a strong focus on the financial sector in addition to the fashion, advertising, and media sectors.
Rating:
Industry Expertise:
Brainlink focuses on financial and construction / contractor clients. In the financial space, they hone in on private equity firms, wealth management firms, and family offices.
3. Data security
Rating:
- 24x7x365 SOC (security operations center)
- Security awareness training for users
- Security audits
- Dark web monitoring
- Strategic consultations for compliance-related issues
- HIPAA and NIST-CSF risk assessments
Rating:
- 24x7x365 SOC
- Dark web monitoring
- Cybersecurity-As-A-Service
Rating:
- Managed firewall
- Endpoint protection
- WISP (Practical Written Information Security Policy) development
- Security awareness training for users
4. Backup & DR
Rating:
- Backup and DR (BDR) services
- Cloud backups
- BDR Virtualization to mitigate loss caused by hardware failure
- Critical data can be recovered in minutes
Rating:
- Backup and DR (BDR) services
- Cloud backups
- Backus as frequently as 15 minutes
Rating:
- Backup and DR (BDR) services
- Cloud backups
-
Boasts a world record with Veeam and Azure restore speeds
(Source: https://www.brainlink.com/veeam-world-records/)
5. Service level
Rating:
- 24x7x365 helpdesk
- Average response time of 10 minutes
- vCIO services
- Support for internal IT departments
- Phone, chat, online portal, email, and on-premises support nationwide including New York.
- Dedicated Client Success Agents, Project Managers, Service Managers, and Support Technician
- Training workshops
- Technology procurement and budget planning
- 24x7x365 NOC (network operations center)
Rating:
- 24x7x365 helpdesk
- Under 1 hour for New York City onsite support
- Phone, email, on-premises, and online portal support
- 24x7x365 NOC
- Technology procurement and budget planning
Rating:
- 24x7x365 helpdesk
- 24x7x365 NOC
- vCTO (virtual CTO)
- Phone, email, and online portal support
6. Range of technologies supported / Technology partners
Rating:
- Azure
- Office 365
- Teams
- Citrix Hyper-V
- Windows operating systems
- Dell
- Lenovo
- Cisco
Rating:
- Structured Cabling
- Office 365
- GSuite
- Windows virtual desktop
- Windows operating systems
Rating:
- Microsoft Azure
- Microsoft Office 365
- AWS (Amazon Web Services)
- Veeam
- Cisco
- Dell
- Checkpoint
- VMware
Based on our evaluation, the best MSP for financial services firms in New York is Imagis.
In short: if you’re in the financial services sector and in the market for an MSP in the New York area, put Imagis at the top of your list.
And the Best MSP For Financial Services Firms In New York is… Imagis!
All three finalists performed well, but Imagis distinguished itself with regulated-industry depth (NYDFS/GLBA/PCI/Reg S-P-aware programs), fast SLAs, and end-to-end coverage across Microsoft cloud, network, endpoint, and MDR/EDR/SIEM. Imagis also brings vCIO guidance, helping wealth managers, hedge funds, and RIAs balance security, compliance, and user experience.
Bottom line: If you’re a financial services firm in NYC, put Imagis at the top of your list for dependable managed IT services, cybersecurity, and compliance-ready operations.
