Dutch Regulators Push EU Banks to Negotiate Collectively With Big Tech

Dutch Regulators Push EU Banks to Negotiate Collectively With Big Tech

European banks and financial institutions should combine their purchasing power when negotiating contracts with US technology giants, according to recommendations from Dutch regulatory authorities concerned about the continent's deepening reliance on foreign providers of cloud computing and artificial intelligence services.

In a report delivered to the Dutch government on July 10, a coalition of watchdogs including the Netherlands' central bank and data protection agency highlighted that digital dependencies on overseas companies "continue to grow" among the entities they oversee. This trend persists despite Europe's stated policy objectives around achieving greater strategic autonomy in critical technology infrastructure.

Why it matters

The recommendation signals growing regulatory concern that individual European financial institutions lack sufficient leverage when contracting with dominant US cloud and AI providers. Collective negotiation could help banks secure better terms, pricing, and data governance protections—but it also represents a significant departure from traditional procurement practices and raises questions about how such coordination would work in practice across competitive banking markets.

Antitrust Concerns Shouldn't Block Cooperation

The Dutch regulators explicitly addressed potential legal obstacles to their proposal, noting that concerns about violating antitrust law need not prevent collective purchasing arrangements. They pointed to existing exemptions within current competition regulations that could accommodate coordinated buying, provided such arrangements comply with established legal frameworks.

The report reflects mounting anxiety among European policymakers about the financial sector's vulnerability to disruptions in services provided by a small number of large American technology companies. As banks accelerate their adoption of cloud infrastructure and AI-powered tools for everything from fraud detection to customer service, their operational dependencies on providers like Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud have intensified.

Growing Gap Between Policy and Practice

The findings underscore a widening gap between Europe's strategic ambitions for digital sovereignty and the practical realities facing its financial institutions. While EU policymakers have championed initiatives to reduce dependence on non-European technology providers, the Dutch report suggests these efforts have not translated into meaningful changes in procurement behavior.

The proposal for collective negotiation represents one potential mechanism for rebalancing power dynamics in vendor relationships without requiring banks to abandon established cloud platforms or AI tools that have become integral to their operations. However, implementing such an approach would require coordination across multiple jurisdictions and agreement on common negotiating positions—a complex undertaking in Europe's fragmented banking landscape.

The recommendations were first reported by Bloomberg.