De Nederlansdsche Bank has given the country's financial institutions the all-clear to port applications to Amazon's Web Services cloud.
The green light from the central banks covers the use of AWS in all facets of Dutch financial operations, such as websites, mobile applications, retail banking platforms, high performance computing and credit risk analysis applications. Additionally, the storage and management of all levels of data on the AWS Cloud, as well as the use of technology that runs on top of AWS and is provided by third party vendors, are also included.
Banks shifting their technology to AWS will still have to comply with DNB rules on cloud computing, including the requirement to compile a risk analysis and conclude agreements about who has access to the data and where it is physically stored. DNB must also be granted the right to audit data stored in the cloud.
Dutch firm Ohpen has already moved to take advantage of the ruling by choosing AWS to host its core banking platform in an on-demand, software-as-a-service environment.
Chris Zadeh, CEO of Ohpen, comments: "Large Dutch banks are already moving their entire retail banking platforms to the cloud using Ohpen core banking technology running on top of AWS. Choosing AWS-based technology gives customers IT infrastructure that has better performance than they have had in the past and, because this initiative has the approval of the DNB, they can take advantage of the security and reliability of AWS while ensuring they comply with all outsourcing legislation."
Other European banks already running applications in a cloud environment at AWS data centres include Bankinter in Spain and Unicredit in Italy.