European Regulators Question Google Over Cloud Outage That Disrupted Bank Services

European financial regulators are questioning Google after a cloud computing outage on Tuesday left millions of bank customers without access to key financial services for hours. The European Banking Authority said it has been in contact with Google Cloud to obtain information on the incident and assess its potential impact on EU financial entities. Google said the disruption was caused by a "power event" in a London-based network serving customers across Europe. Revolut, Lloyds and HSBC were among the affected banks. Revolut, which has around 13 million UK customers, said a wide range of services including logins, card payments and cash withdrawals were affected, though customer funds and data remained safe. The outage is the first major test of new European rules designed to strengthen the resilience of technology providers on which the financial sector depends. The EU last year designated 19 technology firms as critical third-party providers, bringing them under direct oversight of three financial regulators including the EBA. Britain took similar steps for four cloud providers. Google Cloud falls under both frameworks. In Britain, parliament's Treasury Committee has written to the Bank of England and the FCA seeking details of the regulators' response.