In the fourth quarter of 2025, IBANXS made a strategic decision: to migrate its open banking platform from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to a European sovereign cloud provider. The phased migration to Dutch cloud provider Proserve was completed in early 2026 — without disruption to clients.
For Hans Vermeijs, CEO of IBANXS, this move was about much more than infrastructure. “Cloud sovereignty is not an IT decision — it’s a strategic one,” Vermeijs explains. “As a regulated payment institution under supervision of the Dutch Central Bank (DNB), we must take full responsibility for where our data resides, who can access it and under which jurisdiction our infrastructure operates.”
Why Cloud Sovereignty Matters in Open Banking
Operating in open banking means handling sensitive financial data across Europe. For fintechs and regulated payment institutions, digital sovereignty is not optional — it is fundamental.
European cloud sovereignty means:
- Data governed under EU jurisdiction
- Protection against extraterritorial access
- Full transparency over infrastructure governance
- Regulatory certainty for financial institutions
“Hosting in Europe does not automatically mean sovereignty,” says Vermeijs. “Even when infrastructure is physically located in the EU, non-European hyperscalers may remain subject to foreign legislation.”
A key wake-up call came when employees of the International Criminal Court in The Hague were cut off from their email accounts after being placed on a US sanctions list. “That demonstrated that European hosting is not the same as European control.” For IBANXS, reducing dependency on US hyperscalers became a strategic necessity.
Reducing Dependency on US Hyperscalers
Beyond geopolitical concerns, structural dependency played a role.“All interaction with AWS ran through partners,” Vermeijs explains. “Direct engagement with the hyperscaler itself was limited. Many partner models introduce lock-in or high margin layers, reducing transparency and flexibility.”At the same time, costs were rising. “Pay-per-use models are attractive in early growth stages. But as transaction volumes scale, infrastructure costs become unpredictable. As a fintech working toward break-even, cost stabilisation was critical.”
Regulatory Signals from the Financial Sector
The decision was reinforced by a publication from the Dutch Central Bank (DNB), calling on the financial sector to explore sovereign infrastructure alternatives. “This confirmed that digital sovereignty is becoming a broader priority within European financial services,” Vermeijs notes. “As a European fintech, we want to lead in that transition.”
Migrating from AWS to a Dutch Sovereign Cloud
The migration from AWS to Proserve was executed in phases to ensure uninterrupted service. “We described it internally as an open-heart operation,” Vermeijs says. “We migrated sandbox environments first, then transitioned clients step by step — maintaining availability, compliance and performance at every stage.”
One key advantage of working with a European sovereign cloud provider was improved collaboration. “With Proserve, we have direct access to engineers who understand our regulatory environment. That level of cooperation is fundamentally different from hyperscaler ecosystems.”
The Business Case: Stability, Control and Growth
Although cost reduction was not the primary objective, cost stability was. “We now operate with predictable infrastructure costs instead of variable and escalating usage-based models. That gives us financial clarity as we scale.”
Within the same budget envelope, IBANXS increased:
- Managed DevOps support
- Redundancy levels
- Infrastructure transparency
- Operational control
For a growing open banking platform, these improvements directly support reliability and client trust.
A Strategic Positioning Advantage in European Fintech
The migration also strengthens IBANXS’ positioning within the European fintech ecosystem. “In open banking, trust is everything,” Vermeijs concludes. “By choosing a European sovereign cloud, we demonstrate that digital sovereignty is embedded in our infrastructure — not just in our messaging.”
For clients and partners, this means:
- Reduced exposure to non-European jurisdiction
- Full regulatory alignment
- Infrastructure independence
- Long-term strategic resilience
Cloud sovereignty, for IBANXS, is not a political statement. It is a strategic foundation for European growth. “As a European regulated payment institution, operating on a European sovereign cloud is no longer optional. It is necessary.”