AMZN, MSFT, GOOG, ORCL Designated As Critical Third Parties In The UK – What It Means

Shares of Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Amazon (AMZN) and Oracle Corp. (ORCL) were in focus on Friday after the U.K. government designated the four companies as Critical Third Parties (CTPs) to strengthen and safeguard the country’s financial systems.

At the time of writing, was up 0.4%, climbed 1%, while and AMZN shares edged 0.2% lower each.

UK Regulatory Bodies To Oversee Firms’ Critical Services For Financial Sector

The firms covered under the new framework are Microsoft Ireland Operations, Google Cloud EMEA, Amazon Web Services EMEA, and Oracle Corporation UK.

Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA), and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will jointly oversee the critical services the four companies provide to the financial sector. The aim is to reduce the risk of widespread disruption if a major cloud provider experiences operational issues. Regulatory oversight will apply only to the financial sector, not to their broader business operations.

The designated companies will be required to maintain strong systems to identify, manage, and recover from disruptions affecting services used by financial institutions. Regulators will also be allowed to gather information, assess operational resilience, and, when necessary, introduce or enforce CTP-specific rules to ensure the continuity of critical services.

“These designations will help ensure the critical services financial firms rely on remain resilient, protecting consumers and businesses while supporting growth across the economy,” said Rachel Blake, Economic Secretary to the Treasury of the United Kingdom.

Addressing Growing Systemic Risks

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

The framework builds on the Bank of England’s 2021 assessment that the financial sector’s increasing reliance on a small number of cloud providers warranted stronger regulatory oversight to safeguard essential financial services relied upon by millions of consumers and businesses.

UK Financial Sector Cyber Risk At All-Time High

According to a CloudGuard Financial Services Threat Report published earlier this year, cyber risks faced by the U.K.’s financial sector have reached a record high, with the industry accounting for about 28% of all cyberattacks in the country.

The report highlighted growing threats from ransomware, nation-state hackers, and AI-powered scams such as deepfakes and targeted phishing. It also warned of a sharp rise in credential theft, with billions of stolen login credentials circulating on the dark web.

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