19 technology companies, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft, were named by European Union regulators on Tuesday as critical third-party computing providers for the bloc’s finance sector.
Three EU-level financial regulators may jointly designate some technology providers as important and oversee them directly under the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which went into effect in January 2025.
The new regulations are a part of an effort to shield the EU’s financial industry from the risks associated with its dependence on outside technology suppliers, such as the usage of cloud computing for essential banking services.
Regulators are concerned about how an outage at a tech company that many banks use may affect the financial industry.
The European divisions of Amazon Web Services, Bloomberg, Google Cloud, IBM, London Stock Exchange Group, Microsoft, Orange, and Tata Consultancy Services are among the companies listed by the European Banking Authority, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, and European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
According to a news release on ESMA’s website, the authorities will look at whether these businesses have the proper governance and risk management systems in place to guarantee the resilience of the services they offer.
Both Google Cloud and an LSEG representative expressed their gratitude for the award on their websites.
According to a Microsoft representative, the company is dedicated to adhering to European cybersecurity and resilience regulations.
According to an Amazon Web Services representative, the company has been getting ready for the designation and will keep interacting with the appropriate authorities.
According to an IBM representative, the company is always improving its cybersecurity and anticipates positive interactions with regulators.
This year, European officials have become more concerned about the durability of their financial sector.
The European Central Bank listed technical disruptions and geopolitical tensions as two of the threats to Europe’s banking industry on Tuesday.
Similar regulations have been implemented in the UK, albeit no companies have been named as of yet.
A government official informed legislators earlier this month that she anticipated designations by this time next year, and regulators have advised Britain’s finance ministry on candidates.
