Although, according to Rabo CEO Decraene, there are no concrete signs that American tech companies could shut down the systems, preventing customers from transferring money, for example, Rabobank is aware of this risk. “We are therefore working with a number of parties on solutions. Because we cannot do this alone as Rabobank.”

According to Decraene, European banks have taken the initiative themselves, and are not doing so under pressure from regulators such as the ECB or De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB): “We are looking into whether we can set up cloud and data structures here to preserve European sovereignty.”

ING confirms that it is working on ways to become less dependent on American tech companies in the same context. The bank specifically mentions cloud services. Two weeks ago, CEO Steven van Rijswijk told NOS during the presentation of the annual figures that ING has its own cloud environment: “But let’s not kid ourselves. Many parts of this infrastructure are supplied by American companies.”