Bank of England gains power to regulate Amazon, Google, and other tech firms
6 reported
The Bank of England has been granted authority to regulate major technology firms, including Amazon and Google, starting next week, due to concerns that system failures could threaten financial stability and harm consumers. From Monday, the Bank and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will oversee four large-scale providers of cloud and tech services to banks, ensuring they are resilient and reduce risks of cyber-attacks and major outages. The companies identified as “critical third parties” by the UK government include local arms of Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Oracle, and Microsoft. They must prove adequate stress testing, report major incidents like cyber-attacks, power outages, and natural disasters. The move follows a 2023-2025 period where UK bank customers suffered the equivalent of over a month of IT failures, according to the Treasury committee. All four companies publicly welcomed the announcement, supporting the government’s objectives.
What’s reported
The Bank of England and FCA will regulate Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, Oracle, and Microsoft as “critical third parties.”
The companies must conduct stress testing and report major incidents such as cyber-attacks, power outages, and natural disasters.
The UK government took more than 18 months to decide which companies should be supervised, after giving regulators theoretical powers in January 2025.
Customers at Britain’s main banks and building societies suffered the equivalent of more than a month’s-worth of IT failures between 2023 and 2025.
Last October, Lloyds Banking Group was among over 2,000 companies disrupted by a glitch at Amazon’s cloud computing operations in Northern Virginia.
All four companies publicly welcomed the announcement.
Key figures
Meg Hillier, Treasury committee chair
Sources: The Guardian
