“Critical” technology providers. The EU has announced the companies it considers essential for its banking industry
The Google Cloud building in the Grand Canal area, Dublin, Ireland, on February 15, 2023. PHOTO: Artur Widak / AFP / Profimedia
European Union regulators on Tuesday designated 19 technology companies, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft, as “critical” third-party IT service providers for the bloc's financial industry, Reuters reports.
Under the EU's Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), which came into effect in January 2025, three European financial regulators can jointly designate certain technology providers as essential and supervise them directly.
The new rules are part of an attempt to protect the EU's financial sector from risks related to its reliance on external technology providers, such as the use of cloud computing to operate key banking services. Regulators are concerned about the impact on the financial sector if a technology provider used by many banks has an outage.
Among the companies designated by the European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) are the European divisions of Amazon Web Services, Bloomberg, Google Cloud, IBM, London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), Microsoft, Orange and Tata Consultancy Services.
The regulators will examine whether these companies have adequate governance and risk management frameworks in place to ensure that the services they provide will remain resilient, the three European authorities said in a press release published on the ESMA website.
A spokesperson for LSEG said it welcomes the designation, and Google Cloud said the same on its website.
According to a Microsoft spokesperson, the US company is committed to complying with European legislation on cyber security and resilience. A spokesperson for Amazon Web Services said it was preparing for the designation and would continue to work with the relevant authorities. An IBM spokesperson said the company is continually strengthening its cybersecurity and looks forward to constructive engagement with regulators.
Concerns among European officials about the resilience of the financial sector have grown this year. On Tuesday, the European Central Bank cited geopolitical tensions and technological disruption among the risks facing Europe's banking sector.
The UK has introduced a similar regime, although no firm has yet been named. Regulators have given Britain's Treasury recommendations on candidates, and a government minister led by Keir Starmer told MPs earlier this month that they expected the nominations to be made by this time next year.
