Revolut Outage Exposes Digital Banks’ Reliance on Third-Party Cloud Infrastructure

A technical failure at a key IT provider was enough to disrupt Revolut’s services on Tuesday, October 20, 2026. Customers faced difficulties making card payments, withdrawing cash from ATMs, and executing transfers. The root cause of the incident was an electrical failure affecting part of Google Cloud’s infrastructure in London. According to information published by Google, the issue was largely resolved by the end of the day, highlighting a critical vulnerability among digital banks: their heavy dependence on technological infrastructures they do not fully control.

Initial Disruptions and Customer Impact

The first signs of malfunction were reported in the morning. On its official service status page, Revolut listed disruptions affecting card payments, transfers, ATM withdrawals, and app connectivity. Users also reported difficulties reloading their cards. Reports of the outage came from multiple countries, including France.

The company assured customers that their funds and data remained secure, while noting that its teams were working to restore full service. The outage did not involve the loss of deposits; rather, it created temporary barriers to accessing certain services required to use those funds.

Root Cause: Google Cloud Infrastructure Failure

The origin of the incident lies in Google Cloud’s London computing region, identified as “europe-west2.” Google reported an electrical incident that caused network errors and intermittent interruptions. The issue began at 6:08 GMT on October 20 and affected several services within its cloud infrastructure.

The consequences extended beyond Revolut. Several major British banks, including Lloyds and HSBC, also reported service disruptions. Other digital services experienced similar difficulties, illustrating the cascading effects that a failure at a major technology provider can trigger across the financial sector.

The Cloud Dependency Risk

Cloud computing allows businesses to host applications, store data, and run parts of their IT systems without managing the underlying physical infrastructure themselves. However, when a critical cloud service experiences an incident, dependent companies may suffer simultaneous outages. The October 20 outage serves as a concrete example of this systemic risk, underscoring the need for digital banks to diversify their infrastructure dependencies to enhance resilience.