Major banks still need more from Europe’s sovereign cloud and AI services, Temenos CEO Takis Spiliopoulos told Reuters, citing data-access concerns and the demands of cross-border regulation.
His comments come as the European Union seeks to expand its own cloud and AI capacity. The European Commission published its proposed Cloud and AI Development Act on June 3, 2026, with measures for research and development, added data-center capacity and a common method to assess cloud and AI sovereignty.
The proposal pairs that assessment framework with a public-sector adoption mechanism and aims to strengthen the EU’s cloud and AI ecosystem, investment and infrastructure. The Commission identifies reliance on non-European cloud and AI providers as a risk to digital autonomy and resilience. The proposed approach places public-sector adoption alongside research and infrastructure capacity in the Commission’s package.
The Commission plan addresses regional policy and public-sector use, while Spiliopoulos’ comments concerned commercial banks’ readiness. He told Reuters that efforts to get U.S. cloud providers to establish local data centers had not resolved concerns about data access.
Spiliopoulos described sovereign data and AI as “not yet at a maturity level” that banks would consider, Reuters reported. He said European services needed further development before large banks could use them broadly. He also identified operations across jurisdictions and regulatory requirements as obstacles for large banks, Reuters reported.
The discussion follows EconoTimes’ earlier coverage of SAP clients’ questions about AI model origins and governance. That report said SAP and Cohere planned to expand sovereign AI offerings in Canada through Cohere’s North platform on SAP’s Canadian ERP Sovereign Cloud for public-sector and regulated customers.
The Commission proposal remains pending adoption by the European Parliament and Council. The Commission’s Oct. 14, 2026, roadmap update sets the target for agreement in the fourth quarter of 2027.
