Revolut customers across Europe experienced problems with payments, transfers and currency exchange on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, after a technical failure at a Google Cloud data centre in London.
The disruption lasted several hours and affected users in multiple countries, including the UK, Ireland, Germany, France and Romania. Some customers were unable to access their accounts, while others reported declined card payments, failed transfers and difficulties exchanging currencies.
Services have since been restored, but the incident has drawn attention to the dependence of European financial institutions on a relatively small number of cloud infrastructure providers.
How a Google Cloud failure affected Revolut
The problem originated in Google's London cloud region, known as europe-west2. According to Google, a power-related incident affected one of its availability zones, europe-west2-b, causing errors and intermittent network failures across multiple cloud services.
The incident began at approximately 06:08 UTC. Google recorded a disruption lasting 7 hours and 52 minutes, although this does not mean every affected Revolut service was unavailable for the entire period.
Revolut was not the only financial institution affected. British banks including Lloyds, Halifax and HSBC also experienced technical difficulties.
Although the infrastructure failure occurred in London, its effects extended beyond the UK. Applications serving customers in other European countries can depend on systems hosted in the same cloud region, regardless of where their users are located.
Revolut confirmed that customer funds and personal data remained secure during the disruption.
By the evening of October 20, Revolut's official status pages indicated that services, including card payments, transfers and currency exchange, were operational again.
What happened to currency exchange and international transfers
For many European customers, Revolut is more than an everyday banking app. It is also used to hold foreign currencies, exchange money and make international payments.
The outage therefore affected activities that are particularly important to travellers, freelancers and people who receive income or make payments in different currencies.
Customers attempting to convert euros into pounds, dollars or other currencies could encounter errors or be unable to complete their transactions. International transfers and card payments involving foreign currencies were also among the services affected.
The interruption did not mean that foreign exchange markets themselves had stopped operating.
EUR/USD, EUR/GBP and other currency pairs continued to trade on the global foreign exchange market. The problem concerned access to Revolut's services rather than the underlying exchange rates.
This distinction matters because exchange rates can change while a banking platform is unavailable.
A customer planning to exchange EUR 5,000 into USD, for example, might find that the available rate has moved by the time the service becomes accessible again. The final amount received depends on the exchange rate at execution, along with any applicable provider fees or markups.
For larger transfers, even relatively small movements in exchange rates can make a noticeable difference.
Why European regulators are concerned about cloud dependence
The outage also highlights a wider issue in European banking: reliance on external technology providers.
Banks increasingly use cloud infrastructure for computing, databases, payment processing and other digital services. This can improve efficiency and scalability, but it also introduces dependencies that must be managed carefully.
A technical failure at a single infrastructure provider can affect several financial institutions at the same time.
That concentration of risk is one reason the European Union introduced the Digital Operational Resilience Act, commonly known as DORA.
The regulation has applied since January 17, 2025, and establishes requirements for how financial institutions manage technology risks, respond to incidents and prepare for operational disruptions.
DORA covers several important areas, including business continuity, disaster recovery, incident reporting, resilience testing and the management of third-party technology providers.
It also establishes European oversight of cloud and other technology companies considered critical to the financial sector.
Google Cloud EMEA Limited was officially designated as a critical ICT third-party service provider under DORA in November 2025, bringing it within the EU's dedicated oversight framework.
Is Revolut compliant with DORA?
Revolut Bank UAB, the Lithuanian bank serving customers across the European Economic Area, falls within the scope of DORA.
In its 2025 annual financial report, Revolut Bank UAB describes an operational resilience framework supported by business continuity and disaster recovery plans.
The bank states that these plans are regularly tested and that it continues investing in technology, personnel and external resources to reduce the likelihood and impact of major service disruptions.
The report also explicitly refers to DORA and the bank's ongoing efforts to improve operational resilience.
However, these disclosures do not independently establish that every requirement of DORA has been fully satisfied.
An outage does not automatically mean a bank has breached DORA.
The regulation requires financial institutions to prepare for disruptions, manage their risks and restore important services. It does not guarantee that technical incidents will never occur.
Determining whether the October 20 incident revealed a compliance failure would require more detailed information about Revolut's infrastructure, contingency procedures, recovery arrangements and response to the disruption.
The fact that the original failure occurred at Google Cloud does not remove the bank's own regulatory responsibilities.
What customers can do during a banking outage
The incident is also a reminder of the practical risks of relying entirely on a single banking provider, especially when travelling or making time-sensitive international payments.
Keeping a second payment card issued by an independent bank can provide an alternative when one service becomes unavailable.
Customers who experience failed or delayed transfers should check their transaction history before attempting the same operation again. Repeated attempts can create confusion if transactions are processed after a delay.
For larger currency exchanges or international payments, comparing rates and fees between providers can also be useful.
Independent currency information services such as xrates.eu can help users monitor exchange rate movements even when their banking provider is experiencing technical difficulties.
Reference exchange rates are useful for comparison, although the final rate offered by a bank or payment provider may include additional costs.
Services restored, but the investigation continues
Revolut's services have returned to normal following the October 20 disruption.
Google has confirmed that the cloud incident was resolved and said it would publish a more detailed technical analysis after completing its internal investigation.
That report should provide further information about the infrastructure failure and the recovery process.
For European consumers, the incident illustrates the difference between the security of funds and the availability of financial services. Money can remain safe in a regulated institution while customers temporarily lose access to the tools they need to use it.
As banking becomes increasingly digital and international, the reliability of the underlying technology is becoming just as important to everyday financial activity as the services offered by banks themselves.