UK Classifies Microsoft, Google, and AWS as 'Critical Third Parties' to Finance
DavidLinthicum · x · 2026-07-31
The UK has formally classified Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Oracle as "critical third parties" (CTPs) to the financial sector. This signifies regulators' acknowledgment that hyperscalers capable of simultaneously taking down dozens of banks are no longer ordinary vendors, but critical national infrastructure.
In practice, these cloud giants will face direct oversight from the Bank of England, the PRA, and the FCA. This includes mandatory resilience testing, incident reporting, and compliance with requirements that far exceed standard terms-of-service agreements.
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