The UK has announced new measures to regulate major cloud service providers that support the country’s financial system, aiming to reduce the risks posed by potential cyberattacks, outages, or operational failures. Four major providers, Microsoft, Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Oracle, have been designated as Critical Third Parties to the financial sector, placing them under direct oversight from UK regulators.

Under the new framework, the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority, and the Financial Conduct Authority will monitor these providers and require stronger operational resilience measures, including incident reporting, risk assessments, and testing of their ability to maintain essential services.

The move reflects growing concerns that the financial sector’s reliance on a small number of technology companies could create wider systemic risks if critical cloud infrastructure is disrupted.