Central bank regulators have been grappling with technology companies such as Alphabet Inc.
GOOGL,
+0.48%,
Amazon.com Inc.
AMZN,
-0.15%
and Microsoft Corp.
MSFT,
+2.27%
that have become too big to fail because they provide a backbone to the global financial system, Reuters reported on Friday. Critical operations such as payments, online banking and cloud-based transactions have created a step up in potential risks to the financial system, central bank sources told Reuters. A technology problem or security breach at one cloud company could trigger shutdowns in key services across multiple banks and countries and undermine confidence in the financial system, regulators told Reuters. The U.S. Treasury, European Union, Bank of England and Bank of France have ramped up efforts to scrutinize cloud technology to mitigate the risks of banks relying on a small group of tech firms or cloud providers.