How AWS Brings AI-Powered Cloud Security to Nationwide

Nationwide, the world's largest building society, has deepened its partnership with AWS in a move designed to strengthen its cybersecurity posture and accelerate fraud prevention capabilities through cloud-based innovation.

The expanded agreement represents a significant step in Nationwide's digital transformation, with security and data protection at its core.

By leveraging AWS' cloud infrastructure, the financial institution is deploying AI-powered security solutions designed to combat sophisticated fraud attempts while maintaining strict regulatory compliance standards expected across the financial services sector.

Building on its established use of Amazon Connect – AWS's cloud-based contact centre platform – Nationwide is extending its use of AI to support real-time threat detection and secure customer interactions across its branch and digital channels.

The service enables employees to deliver faster, more informed customer service while upholding the stringent security and regulatory standards required in financial services.

Suresh Viswanathan, Group Chief Operating Officer at Nationwide, says: "As we continue our digital transformation, we need cloud technology that can support our ambition to deliver better customer experiences, while keeping safety and security at the forefront.

"With AWS, we can better support our frontline colleagues to help improve member experience and deliver better outcomes for more than 17 million customers."

Combating impersonation fraud with AI

One critical area strengthened through AWS' collaboration is Nationwide's Call Checker service.

Launched in January 2025 and powered by Amazon Connect, the tool enables customers to verify that they are speaking to a genuine Nationwide colleague – a vital safeguard at a time when impersonation fraud remains a major security threat.

According to Nationwide, these scams accounted for 17% of all incidents reported between 2024 and 2025.

By integrating cloud-based AI tools, the building society is strengthening its defences against sophisticated fraud attempts, while also streamlining secure customer authentication processes.

With AWS underpinning its core infrastructure, Nationwide can deploy new security innovations faster and at greater scale, allowing the organisation to respond more rapidly to emerging cyber threats.

Building resilience through cloud infrastructure

AWS and Nationwide's expanded agreement places cloud scalability, security resilience and operational continuity at the centre of Nationwide's digital strategy.

The partnership allows the mutual to deploy new capabilities quickly, adapt to evolving threat landscapes and maintain consistent data protection standards across its extensive branch network and digital platforms.

For AWS, this reinforces the growing role of cloud infrastructure in enabling traditional financial institutions to strengthen their security frameworks against increasingly sophisticated cyber threats and compliance challenges.

"By consolidating and modernising their workloads on AWS, Nationwide can accelerate innovation, enhance operational resilience and deliver the digital experiences their members expect – all while maintaining the security and compliance standards that are paramount in financial services," says Alison Kay, VP and Managing Director of AWS UKI.

"We are thrilled to support Nationwide in unlocking the transformative power of cloud technology, while equipping their teams with training and skills that will drive meaningful impact for both customers and colleagues."

As part of the renewed agreement, AWS will work closely with Nationwide to upskill employees through access to AWS training resources, focusing particularly on cloud computing and AI.

This forms part of plans to future-proof Nationwide's workforce, ensuring colleagues have the expertise needed to leverage cloud technologies effectively across departments.

The training aligns with a broader trend across the financial services landscape, where organisations are investing heavily in cybersecurity, AI and cloud literacy to sustain innovation and service excellence. 

The collaboration demonstrates how established financial institutions are adopting modern cloud security technologies to deliver secure, always-on experiences customers increasingly expect.

By combining its customer-first ethos with AWS's technical expertise, Nationwide is aiming to set benchmarks for secure, compliant and resilient digital banking.

The partnership reinforces that cloud modernisation is essential for maintaining robust cybersecurity defences within the financial sector.

Collaborations like this one show how technology alliances can bridge legacy systems and future-ready cyber defence ecosystems.