The UK Government’s decision to designate Google Cloud, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Oracle as critical third parties to the financial sector brings their services under direct regulatory oversight.

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It also sharpens the focus on who ultimately controls essential cloud services and reinforces why cloud sovereignty is becoming a board-level issue for UK businesses.

That significance is immediate because cloud infrastructure now underpins everyday operations across the UK. If those services fail, or the protections behind them prove weaker than expected, businesses can face severe disruption, regulatory scrutiny and a damaging loss of customer trust. Yet many companies still cannot say who has the final say over their data.

That is why sovereignty is no longer just a marketing buzzword. It is becoming a business strategy. A genuinely sovereign cloud service should provide clear assurances about where data is held, who can........

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