Author: Phoebe Sears and Lawrence White
LONDON, Jan 14 (Reuters) – British financial regulators including the Bank of England have signed an outline agreement with their European counterparts to strengthen cooperation and supervision of providers critical to the financial services industry, the Bank of England said on Wednesday.
The MoU aims to strengthen cross-border supervision of cloud service providers and other technology companies to reduce the risks posed by cyberattacks and network disruptions to the financial sector.
In November, the EU designated 19 technology companies as critical to the financial industry, including cloud providers Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, as well as IBM, London Stock Exchange Group and Tata Consultancy Services.
The rules give regulators powers to check whether these companies have the right risk management and governance frameworks in place to ensure the services they provide remain resilient.
Wednesday’s announcement coincides with a visit to Brussels by UK financial services minister Lucy Rigby, who will meet EU financial services commissioner Maria Louise Albuquerque to push for closer EU-UK cooperation on financial services.
Closer ties between the UK and the EU have been the subject of conflicting media reports in recent days, reflecting ongoing divisions following the UK’s decision to leave the bloc in 2016.
The Treasury said financial services were not part of the 2025 UK-EU reset deal but Rigby and the EU commissioner would discuss areas of cooperation “in our economic interests”.
UK equivalents came into effect early last year, but HM Treasury has yet to appoint a provider.
Still, a person familiar with the Bank of England’s thinking said the cooperation agreement with the EU could still come into effect.
The person, who asked not to be named, said the partnership agreement “regardless of whether they operate in the UK or not”.
Rigby has previously said tech companies would be brought into the UK regime later this year.
(Reporting by Muvija M, writing by Sarah Young; Editing by David Milliken and Barbara Lewis)