Cloud in Banking 2023: Progress, Pitfalls and Regulatory Pressure
Cloud adoption in banking has progressed significantly, but pitfalls around cost, complexity, and regulatory compliance remain. A practical assessment of where the industry stands in 2023.
Cloud adoption in banking has moved well beyond the question of "whether" - but the questions of "how", "how fast", and "at what risk" remain fiercely debated. Global Banking Monitor's 74-page report provides a clear-eyed assessment of progress, pitfalls, and the evolving regulatory landscape that is shaping cloud strategy across the industry.
The report draws on adoption data, migration case studies, and regulatory analysis to help technology leaders navigate the practical challenges of cloud transformation in a heavily regulated environment.
Key findings
- Cloud adoption is accelerating but remains uneven. Tier 1 banks in developed markets are furthest ahead, but even among leaders, the proportion of workloads migrated to cloud remains below expectations set three to five years ago.
- The business case is shifting from cost savings to innovation enablement. Early cloud programmes focused on infrastructure cost reduction, but the real value is emerging from scalability, speed of deployment, and access to cloud-native services.
- Regulatory pressure is intensifying. Data residency requirements, supervisory expectations around concentration risk, and third-party risk management obligations are adding complexity and cost to cloud programmes.
- Multi-cloud strategies are becoming the default, driven by a combination of regulatory pressure, vendor negotiation leverage, and resilience requirements - but they introduce significant operational complexity.
- FinOps is still immature in most banks. Cost optimisation practices lag behind adoption, with many institutions discovering that cloud costs can spiral without disciplined governance and consumption management.
What the report covers
- Executive Summary - Cloud adoption progress, key risks, and opportunities
- Cloud Adoption Trends - Adoption by tier and region, and workload migration patterns
- Business Case for Cloud - Cost efficiency, scalability benefits, and innovation enablement
- Migration Strategies - Lift-and-shift vs replatforming, and cloud-native approaches
- Regulatory Landscape - Data residency requirements and supervisory expectations
- Security and Risk - Cybersecurity challenges and third-party risk
- Architecture Decisions - Multi-cloud vs single cloud, and hybrid models
- Case Studies - Large bank migration and digital-native bank approaches
- Cost Optimisation - FinOps practices and cost control frameworks
- Future Outlook - Cloud as default infrastructure
Who should read this
This report is essential reading for CIOs, CTOs, cloud programme directors, and enterprise architects responsible for cloud strategy and migration. It is also valuable for risk and compliance teams navigating the regulatory dimensions of cloud adoption.
For enquiries about accessing this report, contact [email protected]
