Digital sovereignty in the Cloud: Do we need more Europe?

9th of September 2026

Recording

Digital sovereignty has become a central issue in European digital policy. Europe aims to reduce technological dependencies and strengthen its own cloud capabilities. At the same time, banks rely on powerful, secure, and innovative cloud technologies.

Is digital sovereignty a strategic imperative for banks, or do overly far-reaching regulatory requirements risk undermining competitiveness? And how can the goal of greater digital sovereignty be reconciled with existing requirements for banks' operational resilience?

These questions will be discussed by experts from academia, the technology sector, and the financial industry. The discussion will be moderated by Katarina Krüger Professor at Berlin University of Applied Sciences and Technology (HTW Berlin).

Program

11:00

Welcome

Kolja Gabriel, Member of the Executive Board, Bankenverband

11:05

Discussion

Oliver Dörler, Chief Data & AI Officer, Commerzbank
Christine Knackfuss-Nikolic, Chief Sovereignty Officer, T-Systems
Marc Scheufen, Senior Economist for Artificial Intelligence and Data Regulation, German Economic Institute (IW) Köln

Moderation: Katarina Krüger, Professor at Berlin University of Applied Sciences and Technology (HTW Berlin)

11:45

End of the event