Quick Answer: Google Cloud suffered an outage in its London (europe-west2) region on Tuesday morning, knocking out services for Revolut and disrupting apps and websites for Lloyds, HSBC and others. Google blamed a "power event" and said services were recovering by early afternoon; Revolut said customers' money and data are safe.
A Google Cloud outage hit London on Tuesday morning, knocking digital banking and payment services offline across the United Kingdom. Google later blamed a "power event" at its europe-west2 data centre for the failure, which hit digital bank Revolut hardest — leaving customers unable to pay by card, withdraw cash or log into their accounts.
The trouble began just after 7 a.m. local time, when Google's status page reported "multiple Google Cloud services are experiencing elevated errors and intermittent network failures in europe-west2 region." By shortly after 1 p.m., Google said it was "seeing the recovery of services" across most of the region.
A Google data centre. Photo: Visitor7, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Google Cloud outage: what happened in the London region
The outage centred on europe-west2, Google Cloud's London region, which mainly serves customers in the UK and Ireland. Google's engineering team said it was investigating and advised enterprise customers to try moving workloads to other regions "if feasible." "We apologize to all who are affected by the disruption," the company said.
The timing was rough for Britain's banking sector: the failure landed in the morning rush, when millions check balances and tap cards to pay for the commute.
Revolut down: payments, transfers and cash withdrawals hit
Revolut, the British digital bank, took the worst of it. Several of its services were partially unavailable: card payments, top-ups, transfers, ATM withdrawals, currency exchange, its trading platform and sign-ins.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that Revolut's outage was related to the Google Cloud disruption. Revolut moved quickly to reassure customers about their money: "We are currently experiencing a service disruption affecting multiple services. We can confirm that all our customers' money and data are safe," the company said on X.
A Revolut payment card. Photo: JFD~nlwiki, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Lloyds, HSBC and others caught up in the fallout
Lloyds Banking Group said some of its online services were affected, though customers could still log into its app as normal. "We are aware of similar issues affecting other organisations and are monitoring the situation closely," a spokesperson said.
Outage-tracking platform Downdetector also recorded user reports of problems at HSBC, Barclays, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland on Tuesday — though it is not confirmed the Google Cloud outage caused those. Rightmove, DPD and Royal Mail also saw reports.
Canary Wharf, London's financial district. Photo: Diliff, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Why it matters
This outage is a sharp reminder of how much of daily life now rests on a handful of cloud providers. When one region stumbles, the effects spread far past the data centre — into banking, payments, deliveries and public services.
"The outage is a reminder of how deeply our economies depend on just a handful of cloud providers," said Feng Li, associate dean for research and innovation at Bayes Business School at City St George's, University of London. "A problem in one region can interrupt banking, payments and other services well beyond the provider itself."
Regulators have been sounding this alarm for a while. In July, the UK designated Google Cloud EMEA Limited a critical third-party supplier for the financial sector — and EU regulators did the same last year. This isn't a first either: a 15-hour Amazon Web Services outage last year disrupted hundreds of companies, including Apple, McDonald's and Epic Games.
Server racks inside a Google data centre. Photo: Jhaxhillari, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
What happens next
The immediate question is whether services hold steady through the rest of Tuesday — customers should still check their bank's status page before counting on transfers or card payments. The bigger question sits with regulators: with Google Cloud classed as critical infrastructure for Britain's financial sector, the Bank of England and the FCA will likely want answers on how a power event took payment services offline for hours. Google has promised a fuller explanation once its investigation is complete.
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Key Takeaways
- Google Cloud's europe-west2 (London) region went down on Tuesday morning, just after 7 a.m. local time.
- Revolut was hit hardest: card payments, transfers, ATM withdrawals, currency exchange and sign-ins were partially unavailable.
- Google blamed a "power event" and said services were recovering by early afternoon.
- Lloyds, HSBC, Barclays, Halifax, RBS, Rightmove, DPD and Royal Mail also saw user-reported issues — the Google Cloud link is unconfirmed for most.
- Revolut says customers' money and data are safe; regulators class Google Cloud as a critical finance supplier.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Google Cloud down right now?
Google Cloud's London region suffered an outage on Tuesday, October 20, 2026, starting just after 7 a.m. local time. Google blamed a "power event" and said by shortly after 1 p.m. that services were recovering. If you're still having trouble, check Google's Cloud status page and your provider's own service updates.
Why is Revolut down today?
Revolut's outage is linked to the Google Cloud disruption in London, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. Several Revolut services were partially unavailable, including card payments, transfers, ATM withdrawals, currency exchange, its trading platform and sign-ins. The company said it has been working on a fix since the issue was identified.
Is my money safe in Revolut?
Yes. Revolut has confirmed that "all our customers' money and data are safe" during the disruption. The outage affected access to services — payments, transfers and logins — not the underlying funds. The company apologised for the inconvenience and said engineers were working to restore full service.
Which banks were affected by the Google Cloud outage?
Revolut is the only bank confirmed down because of the Google Cloud outage. Lloyds said some online services were affected. Downdetector logged reports at HSBC, Barclays, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland — but the Google Cloud link is unconfirmed there. ING Germany separately reported technical problems.
What caused the Google Cloud outage?
Google says a "power event" caused the outage in part of its London-area infrastructure, with its engineering team still investigating. Enterprise customers were advised to shift workloads to other regions where feasible, and Google promised a fuller explanation once the investigation is complete.
What is the europe-west2 region?
Europe-west2 is Google Cloud's London region, serving mainly the UK and Ireland. When one region fails, every app or website running on it can go down too — which is why Tuesday's outage cascaded into banks, delivery firms and public services well beyond Google itself.
Sources
- CNN — "Google Cloud services face outage in London, Revolut services down too" (Oct 20, 2026)
- Reuters via Emirates247 — "Google Cloud services down in UK; banks, public sector report issues" (Oct 20, 2026)
- Bloomberg via HinduBusinessLine — "Google Cloud outage takes down C and other banks in UK" (Oct 20, 2026)
Byline: GlobalDeskNews Staff