The UK’s HM Treasury has designated four major cloud service providers as critical third-party suppliers to the country’s financial sector.
These include Microsoft Ireland Operations, Amazon Web Services (AWS) EMEA, Google Cloud EMEA, and Oracle Corporation UK, which will come under direct regulatory oversight from 13 July.
The aim is to strengthen the resilience of financial institutions and reduce the risk of disruption from cyber attacks or technical failures affecting essential banking and financial operations.
The firms will now face supervision from the Prudential Regulation Authority, the Bank of England, and the Financial Conduct Authority.
Under this new regime, the cloud providers will be required to conduct resilience tests, perform regular self-assessments, and report major incidents to regulators.
HM Treasury said: “As banks, insurers and financial market infrastructures become increasingly reliant on cloud services, disruption at a major supplier could affect multiple firms at the same time, potentially impacting services customers depend on.”
The UK government’s decision follows a period of collection of evidence and engagement with third parties.
The designation is intended to safeguard the continuity of critical services within the financial sector, helping regulators collect information, assess risks, and enforce rules specific to these providers as needed.
The move is part of a targeted and proportionate approach, with the option to designate further service providers if necessary to protect the resilience of the UK’s financial system.
UK Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister Rachel Blake said: “We are a world-leading financial centre, and maintaining trust in our financial system is essential to its success.
“These designations will help ensure the critical services financial firms rely on remain resilient, protecting consumers and businesses while supporting growth across the economy.”
In March 2026, a study by Censuswide for the Open Cloud Coalition (OCC) found that over 70% of UK cloud providers supported urgent regulatory intervention in the cloud market.
The findings came as the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) was considering whether to designate Microsoft and AWS with Strategic Market Status (SMS) amid competition concerns.
The survey showed that 71.2% of providers viewed action as urgent or extremely urgent, and nearly three-quarters warned that without swift intervention, dominant providers were likely to further strengthen their market positions.
