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Major Financial Institutions Trust Azure Services for Cloud Computing Needs

Leading financial institutions from around the world have chosen Microsoft’s Azure services to meet their cloud computing needs, citing its ability to meet regulatory requirements and provide a high level of security.

Regulatory Compliance

Financial institution customers in various countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore, Canada, the United States, and many others, have performed due diligence and worked with their regulators to ensure that Microsoft’s cloud services meet their respective regulatory requirements. This gives them confidence in Azure’s ability to help meet the high burden of financial services regulation.

Financial Strength of Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a publicly-listed company in the United States and one of the world’s largest companies by market capitalization, with a strong track record of stable profits. Its market capitalization exceeds $800 billion, making it one of the top three capitalized companies on the planet. With a consistent top 10 global market capitalization ranking since 2000, Microsoft’s financial strength is unparalleled.

Offshoring and Data Protection

While some core categories of data will be stored at-rest outside of Nigeria, Microsoft provides data location transparency and the Online Service Terms describe in detail where data at rest will be for each Online Service. The default data location for customers located in Nigeria is Microsoft’s data centers in the European Union.

  • To ensure compliance with NITDA Guidelines on Data Protection, financial institutions are responsible for ensuring that all required consents from individuals are in place.
  • Microsoft has also identified key risk areas related to offshore transfer and storage of personal data, including political, country/ socioeconomic, infrastructure/security-terrorism, environmental, and legal risks.

Compliance within Your Organization

Financial institutions should have internal mechanisms and controls in place to properly manage the outsourcing of cloud services. While this is a matter for each financial institution to tailor to its compliance practices, Microsoft provides guidance based on its experience with approaches taken by its customers.

  • In assessing options for outsourcing a material business activity to a third party, financial institutions must undertake certain steps as part of due diligence.
  • This includes preparing a CBN IT Standards Blueprint, which requires the cloud service provider to comply with ISO 27018 and ISO 27001 standards. The blueprint also outlines requirements for vendor/service provider engagement, tender/selection processes, risk assessments, and contracting procedures.

Conclusion

Major financial institutions have chosen Azure services due to its ability to meet regulatory requirements and provide a high level of security. With Microsoft’s strong financial track record, data location transparency, and guidance on compliance practices, financial institutions can trust Azure as their cloud computing partner.