Google Cloud Outage Hits UK Banks, Financial Services, and Public Platforms Following London Data Centre Failure

A significant disruption at a Google Cloud data centre in London on Tuesday knocked out online services, mobile apps, and websites for several major banks, financial firms, and public service providers across the UK and Europe.

The tech giant confirmed that the incident stemmed from a power event at its `europe-west2-b` zone data centre in London, which began shortly after 6 a.m. UK time. Google stated that its engineering teams immediately investigated the issue, which caused elevated error rates and intermittent network connectivity across parts of Europe relying on the London-based infrastructure.

Major financial institutions and digital platforms reported widespread technical difficulties. Digital bank Revolut experienced a major outage affecting card payments and ATM withdrawals, prompting the company to release a statement on X:

"We are currently experiencing a service disruption affecting multiple services. We can confirm that all our customers' money and data are safe."

Revolut added in an email statement:

"We’ve been working to fix the issue since it was identified this morning and apologise to anyone affected and for any inconvenience caused."

Other financial and public services also reported technical problems:

Halifax Bank: Noted on social media that customers were "having issues with our app and online".
ING Germany: Reported issues accessing online banking and its mobile app.
Tracking Platforms: Downdetector logged disruptions affecting Lloyds Bank, HSBC, Bank of Scotland, property platform Rightmove, parcel carrier DPD, Royal Mail, and National Health Service (NHS) England. Lloyds confirmed some customers experienced intermittent issues with online services.
Legal Proceedings: The UK's Courts and Tribunals Service announced that live streams for remote court hearings using the Cloud Video Platform (CVP), including the ongoing trial of comedian Russell Brand, were knocked offline.

Tuesday's incident underscores mounting anxieties among European and British regulators regarding the financial sector's heavy reliance on external cloud-computing providers.

In July, the UK designated Google Cloud EMEA Limited alongside three other technology firms as critical third-party suppliers to the financial sector, subjecting them to direct regulatory oversight. Similarly, EU regulators classified 19 technology companies last year as critical third-party computing providers underpinning European finance.