Dutch Regulators: European Banks Must Unite Against US Tech Giants

What happened?

Last Friday, the Dutch financial regulators — De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) and the Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) — delivered a report to the Dutch government warning that Europe's dependence on US technology is deepening. The report, titled 'Digital Sovereignty in the Financial Sector', proposes that European banks unite their purchasing power to negotiate collectively with giants like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud. The proposal follows an 18-month analysis that found over 70% of critical cloud infrastructure for Dutch banks depends on US providers, according to data cited by DNB. The document is non-binding but constitutes the first formal recommendation by a national regulator to create a pan-European purchasing consortium.

Why is it important?

An individual European bank has little bargaining power against US tech giants. However, if several hundred banks negotiate together, they could secure better terms, lower prices, and data sovereignty guarantees. The report highlights that reliance on foreign cloud infrastructure poses risks to financial stability and the privacy of European citizens' data. According to the AFM, a failure at a single cloud provider could affect over 200 banks in the EU, as many share the same services. Additionally, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) limits international transfers, and the EU-US Data Privacy Framework has yet to prove its robustness after the Privacy Shield was invalidated in 2020. Collective bargaining would allow for contractual clauses ensuring data remains on European territory, something individual contracts rarely achieve.

Historical context

Europe has been trying to reduce its technological dependence on the United States for years. Initiatives like Gaia-X (launched in 2019 by France and Germany) have seen limited progress: as of 2025, only 12 European providers have obtained Gaia-X certification, compared to over 200 services from US hyperscalers. The data crisis between the EU and US following the Schrems II case (2020) and recent geopolitical tensions — such as the war in Ukraine and tech sanctions — have accelerated the need for solutions. This report from Dutch regulators is a concrete step toward collective action, similar to what happened in the pharmaceutical sector during the pandemic when the EU jointly negotiated vaccines. However, the most direct precedent is the 'European Cloud for Banking' proposed by the European Banking Association in 2023, which failed due to lack of coordination. The Dutch report revives that idea with a firmer regulatory approach.

Consequences for businesses and users

For European banks, joint negotiation could reduce costs by up to 30% according to DNB estimates, by eliminating premiums from individual contracts. It would also improve legal certainty, as collective contracts could include GDPR compliance guarantees and exit clauses in case of regulatory changes. For end users, this could translate into greater data protection and more resilient services: if one provider fails, the consortium could enforce redundancy across multiple clouds. However, it could also create tensions with US providers, who might see their expansion in Europe limited. AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud collectively generate over €50 billion annually in the EU, and any restrictions could lead to trade retaliation or price increases to compensate. Additionally, smaller banks could benefit more than large ones, which already have some individual bargaining power.

What readers should know

The report is non-binding but sends a clear signal to Brussels and European banks. The European Commission has already shown interest: Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton stated in May that the EU will study the proposal. The proposal aligns with EU efforts to achieve 'digital sovereignty' and could inspire similar measures in other critical sectors like healthcare or defense. For example, the European healthcare sector relies 60% on US clouds for storing medical records, according to a study by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity. The coming months will be key to see if banks coordinate and if the European Commission backs the initiative. Meanwhile, Dutch regulators have urged the government to start talks with other member states, such as France and Germany, which have already expressed preliminary support. In summary, the report marks a turning point: for the first time, a regulator proposes that European banking act as a single buyer against tech giants, potentially redefining the balance of power in the global cloud.