The UK government has formally designated Amazon Web Services (AWS), along with cloud units of Microsoft, Google, and Oracle, as "critical third parties" to the nation's financial sector.
The designation took effect July 13, 2026. It grants UK financial regulators direct oversight of the tech giants to mitigate risks of widespread disruption.
This move addresses the increasing reliance of banks, insurers, and other financial institutions on a small number of cloud providers.
A failure at a single provider could pose a systemic risk to the UK's financial stability.
Under the new regime, the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority, and the Financial Conduct Authority will jointly oversee the resilience and operational integrity of these firms' services to the financial industry.
AWS and the other designated companies will now be subject to new rules and requirements. These ensure they can effectively manage and recover from disruptions.