No recommendation
No news or research item is a personal recommendation to deal. Hargreaves Lansdown may not share ShareCast's (powered by Digital Look) views.
(Sharecast News) - The government said on Friday that it has designated cloud service providers Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Oracle as critical third parties (CTPs), bringing them under direct regulatory oversight "to help protect the UK's financial system".
The move will come into effect on Monday. The government said: "As banks, insurers and financial market infrastructures become increasingly reliant on cloud services, disruption at a major supplier could affect multiple firms at the same time, potentially impacting services customers depend on."
The Bank of England, Prudential Regulation Authority and Financial Conduct Authority will work together to jointly oversee the services the companies provide to the financial sector.
Economic Secretary to the Treasury and City Minister, Rachel Blake MP, said: "We are a world-leading financial centre, and maintaining trust in our financial system is essential to its success.
"These designations will help ensure the critical services financial firms rely on remain resilient, protecting consumers and businesses while supporting growth across the economy."
A spokesperson for Google Cloud said: "Google Cloud EMEA Limited is committed to supporting the operational resilience of the UK financial sector by delivering secure, scalable, and resilient services.
"We are confident that, with effective implementation and meaningful industry engagement, this new Critical Third Party framework can enhance the long-term resilience of the UK's financial ecosystem and increase understanding, transparency, and trust between all parties."
Freddy Dezeure, deputy chief information security officer for Europe at Microsoft said the company "remains fully committed to complying with the relevant oversight requirements and the UK's cybersecurity and resilience laws".
Michael Jefferson, head of Financial Services Public Policy EMEA at AWS, said the firm supports the objectives of the UK authorities to ensure a "robust" financial system. "AWS will comply with all applicable regulations, and we remain committed to helping customers to meet their business and operational resilience objectives," he said.
Finally, Kevin Kimber, senior vice president general manager UK & Ireland at Oracle, said the company supports the government's "important objective of enhancing the operational resilience of the UK financial sector".
"We are committed to working closely with the regulators and our financial services customers toward that objective, while also supporting the Government in accelerating innovation and promoting long-term economic growth," he said.