Cloud for Financial Services
— on AWS
Storm Reply guides banks, insurers, and financial services firms through DORA compliance, cloud migration, and AI-powered risk analytics on AWS — fully regulated for the DACH market.
What's Driving Change in Financial Services
Banks, insurers, and financial services firms face simultaneous pressure from new regulation, technological change, and rising customer expectations — cloud is no longer optional, but a strategic necessity.
DORA Regulation
From January 2025, financial institutions must fully implement the Digital Operational Resilience Act — with binding requirements for ICT risk management, incident reporting, resilience testing, and third-party management. Cloud providers such as AWS are classified as critical ICT third parties and must be contractually bound accordingly.
Legacy Core Banking Systems
Decades-old core banking systems slow down innovation and generate high maintenance costs. Migrating to modern cloud architectures requires careful regulatory alignment with BaFin, comprehensive outsourcing documentation, and a robust risk management framework.
AI in Risk Management
Regulators increasingly expect real-time risk analysis and automated fraud detection — traditional batch processes are no longer sufficient. Institutions must operate AI models in an explainable, auditable manner, embedded within regulated data infrastructures.
From Regulation to Cloud Architecture
Our structured approach brings financial institutions safely into the cloud — regulatory compliance built in from day one, technically sound and BaFin-ready.
Regulatory Assessment
Analysis of DORA readiness, BAIT/VAIT conformity, and BaFin requirements. Identification of compliance gaps and prioritization of remediation measures.
Regulated Landing Zone
Design of an FSI-specific landing zone with EU data residency, network segmentation, audit logging, and role-based access controls — ready for BaFin scrutiny.
Migration & Modernisation
Phased migration of core banking, insurance, and capital markets systems to AWS with minimal downtime, full rollback plans, and regulatory sign-off at each stage.
AI & Data Platform
Building real-time risk pipelines and AI-driven analytics with Amazon Kinesis, SageMaker, and Bedrock for underwriting automation, fraud detection, and capital markets analysis.
Managed Operations
24/7 monitoring, automated DORA incident reporting, continuous compliance monitoring, and regular TLPT support — so your team can focus on the business.
Our Core Services
Specialising in the most regulatory-demanding cloud scenarios in financial services — from DORA compliance to AI-powered underwriting.
DORA Compliance on AWS
Full implementation of all five DORA pillars on AWS: ICT risk management with AWS Security Hub, incident reporting with CloudWatch, TLPT support, third-party management, and information sharing. Includes contractual safeguards as a critical ICT third-party provider.
Cloud Migration for Banks
Structured migration of core banking systems and specialist applications to AWS: regulatory approvals, BaFin-compliant outsourcing documentation, data classification, audit trails, and AWS MAP for financial institutions. Over 50 completed FSI migration projects.
Real-Time Risk Analytics
Low-latency pipelines for Value-at-Risk calculations, stress testing, and real-time market data analysis: Amazon Kinesis for streaming, Amazon Redshift for historical analytics, and SageMaker for ML-based risk models — MiFID II and Basel IV compliant.
Private Cloud vs. Hyperscaler
Objective total cost of ownership analysis and decision support: when does private cloud still make sense, and when is AWS the better choice? We map compliance requirements, latency constraints, costs, and flexibility — delivering a board-ready recommendation grounded in data.
AI-Powered Underwriting
Automate and improve underwriting decisions with Amazon Bedrock and SageMaker: contract analysis with large language models, ML-based risk scoring, and real-time premium calculations for insurers — with full auditability and explainability for regulators.
Why Storm Reply
Storm Reply is an AWS Premier Consulting Partner in DACH with AWS Financial Services Competency and deep expertise in BaFin requirements, DORA, and regulated cloud architectures. As part of the Reply Group, Storm Reply has access to more than 1,500 AWS certifications and 16 AWS Competencies — the foundation for secure and compliant cloud transformation in the German financial market.
Recognised Expertise on AWS
Your Strategic AWS Premier Partner
Storm Reply is the AWS-specialized company within the Reply Group — holding the highest AWS partner status: Premier Tier Services Partner since 2014. In the DACH market, we guide businesses from strategy through migration to ongoing operations.
As part of the Reply Group, you benefit from 16 AWS Competencies, 1,500+ AWS certifications, and a network of over 2,000 AWS professionals — across 6 locations in Germany.
FAQ on Cloud in Financial Services
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DORA (Digital Operational Resilience Act) is an EU regulation that applies from January 2025 to banks, insurers, investment firms, payment service providers and critical ICT third-party providers. It mandates requirements for ICT risk management, incident reporting, third-party management and penetration testing (TLPT). Cloud providers such as AWS are classified as critical ICT third parties and must be contractually bound accordingly.
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AWS provides extensive DORA compliance documentation: a DORA shared-responsibility model, a standardised register of critical third-party providers, and AWS Artifact with audit reports (ISO 27001, SOC 2, BSI C5). Storm Reply builds on this foundation to implement customer-specific controls: ICT risk framework with AWS Security Hub, automated incident reporting and comprehensive audit trails with CloudTrail.
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For German credit institutions and insurers, the BAIT/VAIT framework and EBA cloud outsourcing guidelines are particularly relevant. These include: full documentation of the outsourcing chain, an exit strategy, regular risk assessments, BaFin audit access, and ensuring data sovereignty. Storm Reply prepares the required outsourcing documentation and implements the technical controls on AWS.
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Yes — leading banks worldwide operate core banking systems on AWS. The prerequisites are: a robust landing zone with EU data residency, a comprehensive ICT risk management framework, DORA- and BaFin-compliant outsourcing agreements, and comprehensive monitoring and incident reporting. Storm Reply guides credit institutions through the entire process — from regulatory analysis and architecture to ongoing operations.
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Most German financial institutions face this strategic decision. Private cloud rarely pays off: it offers limited flexibility, incurs high CAPEX costs, and typically covers regulatory requirements less effectively than a properly regulated AWS environment. Storm Reply analyses your specific situation — with a TCO comparison, compliance mapping, and a clear recommendation ready for your board.
Ready for Regulated Cloud in Financial Services?
Our FSI experts analyse your regulatory starting point and develop a cloud strategy that meets DORA, BaFin, and EBA requirements from the ground up.
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