UK Government Designates Big Tech Giants as Critical Third Parties

The UK government has designated Microsoft, Alphabet (the parent company of Google), Amazon, and Oracle as Critical Third Parties to strengthen and safeguard the country's financial systems.

The Bank of England, Prudential Regulation Authority, and Financial Conduct Authority will jointly oversee the critical services these companies provide to the financial sector. The aim is to reduce the risk of widespread disruption if a major cloud provider experiences operational issues.

Regulators will be allowed to gather information, assess operational resilience, and enforce certain rules if needed to ensure the continuity of critical services. The designated companies are Microsoft Ireland Operations, Google Cloud EMEA, Amazon Web Services EMEA, and Oracle Corporation UK.

The Critical Third Parties designation was established under the UK's Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 in response to growing concerns that disruptions at major cloud providers could affect multiple financial institutions simultaneously.