De Nederlandsche Bank published a speech by Steven Maijoor arguing that Europe’s growing reliance on a small number of IT service providers, particularly cloud hyperscalers, is an often-unseen fault line running underneath the financial system. Drawing on a joint De Nederlandsche Bank and Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets report, he called for “vault lines” in the form of stronger structures and stable partnerships to reduce digital dependence and improve resilience. The speech highlighted concentration and systemic risks from widespread reliance on the same few providers, including the potential for immediate disruption if a hyperscaler fails, suffers a cyber-attack, or is compelled by its government to halt services for certain customers. In the near term, Maijoor urged financial institutions to develop and rehearse threat scenarios, especially hybrid physical and digital attacks and sanctions that force key suppliers to suspend services, and to test end-to-end chains of systems with main suppliers to understand how disruptions could spread. Practical mitigants cited included redesigning applications for portability using open standards and container technologies, broadening vendor bases through multi-vendor strategies, strengthening control over data, and increasingly retaining institutions’ own encryption keys. Looking longer term, he set out reducing reliance on non-European providers as the goal, noting that legislation such as the European Union’s Digital Operational Resilience Act provides a starting point but does not remove vulnerabilities linked to geopolitics and the location and jurisdiction of critical data. Proposed steps included deeper collaboration with European IT providers through aligned specifications, coordinated testing and purchase guarantees, joined testing across subcontractor chains, more European capital for innovative technology firms via a stronger savings and investment union, and, where necessary, more enforceable oversight and clearer expectations on geopolitical risk and data location, including consideration of a cross-sector European cloud supervisor.
De Nederlandsche Bank 2026-02-03
De Nederlandsche Bank warns Europe’s digital dependence is a systemic risk and urges vault lines to strengthen financial-sector resilience
De Nederlandsche Bank's Steven Maijoor highlighted Europe's growing reliance on a few IT service providers, particularly cloud hyperscalers, as a systemic risk to the financial system. He advocated for stronger structures and partnerships to reduce digital dependence, urging financial institutions to prepare for potential disruptions and suggesting long-term strategies to decrease reliance on non-European providers.