LONDON — The UK has officially designated major cloud service providers as critical third-party suppliers to the country's financial system, bringing them under direct regulatory oversight to improve resilience against cyber threats and technology disruptions.

Under the new framework, cloud providers serving Britain's financial institutions—including platforms operated by Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Oracle—will be supervised jointly by the Bank of England, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The companies will be required to undergo resilience testing, conduct regular self-assessments and report significant operational incidents.

Officials say the move reflects the growing dependence of banks, insurers and financial markets on cloud computing infrastructure. By strengthening oversight of critical technology providers, regulators aim to reduce the risk of widespread disruption caused by cyberattacks, outages or operational failures that could affect millions of customers.

Technology experts have welcomed the framework, describing it as an important milestone in protecting the UK's digital economy while supporting confidence in financial services. Analysts expect the new rules to encourage stronger cybersecurity investment and operational resilience across both the technology and banking sectors as digital transformation continues to accelerate.