Amazon announced that it had implemented fixes to address recent launch failures, which were traced back to a “load balancer health” issue affecting Amazon Web Services (AWS).

AWS is a dominant player in the global cloud infrastructure, managing nearly one-third of the market and supporting millions of applications and websites worldwide.

When approached for further information, AWS referred Reuters to its status page, while Amazon did not provide a comment.

In the UK, several major institutions, including Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, and telecommunications companies Vodafone and BT, experienced disruptions. The website of HMRC, the UK’s tax, payments, and customs authority, was also impacted, according to Downdetector’s UK site.

Ryan Griffin, who leads the US cyber practice at insurance brokerage McGill and Partners, emphasized the financial impact, stating, “For major enterprises, several hours of cloud service interruption can result in millions of dollars in lost productivity and revenue.”

In the United Kingdom, Lloyd Bank, Bank of Scotland and telecom service providers Vodafone and BT were all hit, according to Downdetector’s UK website, as was UK tax, payments and customs authority HMRC’s website.

Ryan Griffin, US cyber practice leader at insurance broker McGill and Partners, said: “For major businesses, hours of cloud downtime translate to millions in lost productivity and revenue.”

The websites and apps affected by the AWS outage

Artificial intelligence start-up Perplexity, crypto exchange Coinbase, and trading platform Robinhood also experienced outages linked to AWS, as did Amazon’s own services.