AWS cloud data-centre fire triggers outages at First Abu Dhabi Bank, Emirates NBD, and other UAE banks and financial institutions, raising alarm on cloud service over-dependence.
Digital banking services across the United Arab Emirates experienced widespread disruption this week after a fire at an Amazon cloud data centre, reportedly triggered by drone strikes during regional military escalation, temporarily knocked out critical infrastructure used by several major banks.
At least four major UAE financial institutions, including First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB), Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB), Emirates NBD, and Emirates Islamic, reported service disruptions affecting mobile banking, digital platforms, and customer support channels as the incident unfolded.
The outages were linked to problems at a regional data centre operated by Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing arm of Amazon, which hosts infrastructure used by numerous financial services and digital platforms in the Gulf.
What happened
According to multiple reports, unidentified objects struck an AWS facility in the UAE, sparking a fire that forced emergency responders to shut down power to the affected data-centre cluster.
The incident occurred amid heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, with regional media linking the event to Iranian drone strikes targeting infrastructure across the Gulf during an escalation in military activity.
The damage led to power and connectivity failures across the AWS Middle East region, affecting dozens of cloud services, including databases, networking systems, and storage platforms.
Because many companies in the region run critical systems on AWS infrastructure, the disruption cascaded into a wide range of consumer-facing services, from digital banking apps to payment platforms and ride-hailing services.
Industry observers noted that this may be the first known case of a major cloud provider’s physical infrastructure being impacted by military action, highlighting the growing overlap between geopolitical risk and global digital infrastructure.
Banks affected
Among the most visible impacts were disruptions to major UAE banking platforms:
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First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) reported intermittent outages affecting online and mobile banking services.
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Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) experienced a temporary shutdown of its mobile banking application and contact centre.
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Emirates NBD, one of the largest banks in the region, reported delays in phone and online banking services.
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Emirates Islamic, part of the Emirates NBD Group, experienced similar service interruptions.
For many customers, the outages meant temporary inability to access accounts, initiate transfers, or contact customer support, underscoring how deeply financial services depend on cloud infrastructure.
ADCB later confirmed that its disruption lasted roughly 48 hours before services were restored, emphasizing that no customer data or account security was compromised during the incident.
Most traditional banking channels, including ATMs, branches, and card payments, continued operating during the outage.
Wider digital disruption across the region
The banking disruptions were part of a broader technology outage affecting companies throughout the Gulf.
Multiple digital platforms relying on AWS reported degraded performance or downtime, including:
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payment providers
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corporate finance platforms
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logistics and e-commerce services
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ride-hailing applications
In some cases, users reported being unable to complete transactions, check account balances, or access business dashboards.
Technology analysts say the event highlights how concentrated cloud infrastructure has become a single point of failure for entire digital ecosystems.
Recovery underway
AWS said it is working to restore full service and has advised customers running workloads in the region to shift critical operations to other cloud regions until repairs are completed.
Meanwhile, UAE financial institutions have gradually brought digital services back online as infrastructure stabilizes.
The country’s banking sector, widely regarded as one of the most technologically advanced in the Middle East, has also emphasized that core banking systems remained secure throughout the incident.
A wake-up call for cloud-dependent finance
Beyond the immediate disruption, the episode is likely to fuel new discussions about resilience, redundancy, and geopolitical risk in cloud-based financial infrastructure.
Over the past decade, banks across the Gulf have rapidly migrated digital banking stacks to public cloud providers such as AWS in pursuit of scalability and cost efficiency. However, the incident demonstrates that physical infrastructure risks e.g. natural disasters or geopolitical conflict, can still cascade into financial services at a national scale.
