Today we live in a world of increased turbulence and volatility of the processes where managerial decisions have to be made under conditions of risk and uncertainty. The banking business is inherently dynamic and requires prompt introduction of changes. When the number of factors and complexity of the processes increases, the necessity for other instruments of information processing and structuring arises, in other words, the necessity for another way of thinking, wherein the attention is focused not on the separate parts, but on the relationships between the parts the interaction of which forms a goal-oriented whole. The article discusses the main definitions, approaches and methods of systems thinking as a way of understanding difficult situations and identification of threats and problems. The author identifies the possibilities of using systems thinking for solution of business tasks, in particular, the task of introducing anti-crisis process management in banks and modeling the organizational architecture of a sustainable banking business.