Dutch regulators urge European banks to negotiate jointly with AWS, Azure and Google

What happened?

The central bank of the Netherlands (De Nederlandsche Bank) and other Dutch financial authorities have published a report recommending that European banks and financial institutions band together to negotiate collectively with the major cloud providers: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. The proposal, reported by Bloomberg, suggests creating a single purchasing bloc that would allow financial institutions to obtain better commercial terms and reduce their dependence on these three hyperscalers. The report, submitted to the Dutch government, is the result of an analysis of the digital dependence of supervised entities, and concludes that an individual bank has virtually no market power against the cloud giants, while a hundred entities negotiating together could balance the scales.

Why is this important?

The report notes that the European financial sector's dependence on US cloud providers continues to grow, despite political rhetoric about digital sovereignty. The three giants collectively control over 70% of the cloud market in Europe, while European providers such as OVHcloud, Hetzner or Scaleway barely reach 15%. This dominance has not only economic implications, but also geopolitical and legal ones. The US CLOUD Act allows US authorities to demand that American companies hand over data stored on their servers, regardless of physical location. This poses a risk to the confidentiality of European customers' financial data, especially in a context where banking data is critical to privacy and national security.

Moreover, market concentration poses systemic risks: if one of the hyperscalers suffers an outage or a security breach, the impact could quickly spread across the entire European financial sector. The DNB report states that "the digital dependencies of supervised companies continue to grow," despite years of European rhetoric about strategic autonomy. The gap between promise and reality is widening.

Consequences and context

The recommendation comes in a tense geopolitical context, where the European Union is seeking to strengthen its strategic autonomy. The Technological Sovereignty Package presented by the EU in June 2026 includes a Cloud Development Law that addresses precisely this issue. This law aims to foster the creation of a single cloud services market with interoperability and security standards, as well as to encourage investment in European infrastructure. The Dutch proposal aligns with these objectives, but goes a step further by proposing coordinated action from the demand side.

If European banks manage to coordinate, they could pressure hyperscalers to offer more competitive prices, stronger data sovereignty guarantees, and more favorable contractual terms. For example, they could demand that European customer data be stored exclusively in the EU, or that contracts include clauses preventing the extraterritorial application of US laws. However, the initiative faces significant challenges: coordinating dozens of banks with diverse interests is no trivial matter, and cloud providers may resist giving up bargaining power. Moreover, technological dependence is not resolved solely through commercial agreements: migrating to European clouds would require significant investments and changes in IT architecture, which could take years.

Historically, there have been similar attempts in other sectors. For instance, in 2023, a group of European airlines tried to negotiate collectively with aircraft manufacturers like Boeing and Airbus, but failed due to lack of unity. In the financial sector, cooperation is more feasible due to the existence of common regulatory bodies and pressure from supervisors. Nevertheless, success will depend on political will and the ability of entities to act in a coordinated manner.

Impact on the sector

For banks, this recommendation could translate into cost savings and greater legal certainty. According to estimates in the report, collective negotiation could reduce cloud costs by up to 20-30%, given that hyperscalers typically offer volume discounts. Additionally, with more bargaining power, banks could obtain contractual clauses that better protect customer data from the CLOUD Act.

For hyperscalers, it poses a challenge to their dominance in a key sector. AWS, Azure and Google Cloud derive a significant portion of their revenue from the financial sector, and losing customers or reducing prices could affect their margins. However, these giants have a very strong market position and could opt to make minor concessions to keep banks in their ecosystem. In fact, they have already begun offering data sovereignty solutions, such as AWS Outposts or Azure Stack, which allow cloud services to run in local data centers.

For European cloud providers, this is an opportunity to gain market share if banks decide to diversify. Companies like OVHcloud, Hetzner or Scaleway could benefit from renewed interest in European alternatives, although their ability to handle large-scale critical workloads is still limited. The EU's Cloud Development Law could help close this gap through investments in R&D and interoperability standards.

What readers should know

• Dutch regulators have taken the first step for European banks to negotiate collectively with AWS, Azure and Google, aiming to reduce dependence and improve contractual terms.
• The European financial sector's cloud dependency continues to increase: the three hyperscalers control over 70% of the market, while European providers have only about 15%.
• The US CLOUD Act is a threat to the privacy of European financial data, as it allows US authorities to access data stored on servers of American companies, even if located in Europe.
• The EU is already working on a Cloud Development Law to foster European alternatives and reduce strategic dependence.
• Coordination among banks will be key to the initiative's success; however, challenges include diverse interests, resistance from hyperscalers, and the need for infrastructure investments.
• This initiative could set a precedent for other cloud-dependent sectors, such as public administration or healthcare, which also seek greater digital sovereignty.