European sovereign AI, cloud not yet ready for major banks, Temenos CEO says

Oct 28 : Swiss banking software firm Temenos' CEO Takis Spiliopoulos said sovereign AI and cloud initiatives in Europe were not yet mature enough for major banks to adopt, as the region seeks greater technological autonomy from US providers.

The European Union is seeking to strengthen its technological sovereignty through proposals, including the Cloud and AI Development Act, aimed at reducing dependence on US hyperscalers amid concerns over data access under US legislation and the dominance of Amazon, Microsoft and Google in cloud computing.

• Spiliopoulos told Reuters that while many countries had pushed US cloud providers to establish local data centres, concerns remained over where data could ultimately be accessed.

• "Sovereign data or sovereign AI ... it's not yet at a maturity level that they would really entertain this," Spiliopoulos said, referring to banks.

• Prospective European sovereign cloud and AI offerings will take time to develop into solutions that large banks could use at scale, the CEO said.

• Cross-border operations and regulatory requirements remain obstacles, particularly for large banks operating across multiple jurisdictions, he added.