Nationwide Building Society, the world’s largest building society serving more than 17 million customers, has deepened its alliance with Amazon Web Services to deploy AI-driven defenses against escalating cyber threats and fraud in financial services. The expanded partnership, announced in late January 2026, focuses on accelerating cloud security innovations, enhancing fraud detection, and boosting employee cloud expertise amid rising impersonation scams. This move builds on prior collaborations, including the use of Amazon Connect for cloud-based contact centers.

The agreement strengthens Nationwide’s cybersecurity posture and digital transformation, emphasizing security and data protection through AWS’s cloud infrastructure. Nationwide leverages AWS to deploy AI-powered security solutions for combating sophisticated fraud, maintaining regulatory compliance, and supporting real-time threat detection across branch and digital channels, as detailed in Cyber Magazine.

Suresh Viswanathan, Group Chief Operating Officer at Nationwide, stated: “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.”

AIMED AT IMPERSONATION SCAMS

A centerpiece of the partnership is Nationwide’s Call Checker service, launched in January 2025 and powered by Amazon Connect. This AI tool lets customers confirm they are interacting with legitimate Nationwide staff, directly tackling impersonation fraud that comprised 17% of incidents reported between 2024 and 2025, according to WebProNews. Integration of cloud-based AI tools strengthens defenses against fraud, streamlines authentication, and enables faster deployment of security innovations at scale to respond to cyber threats.

The partnership centers on cloud scalability, security resilience, and operational continuity, allowing quick deployment of capabilities, adaptation to threats, and consistent data protection across Nationwide’s branch network and digital platforms. By consolidating and modernizing workloads on AWS, Nationwide accelerates innovation, enhances operational resilience, and delivers digital experiences members expect while maintaining financial services standards.

Alison Kay, VP and Managing Director of AWS UKI, said: “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. 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,” per Cyber Magazine.

TECHNICAL BACKBONE OF DEFENSE

AWS services like Amazon Fraud Detector play a pivotal role, using machine learning to identify anomalies beyond traditional rules-based systems. This draws on Amazon’s 20 years of experience preventing fraud at AWS, Amazon.com, and subsidiaries to enrich models with fraud patterns, enabling near-real-time monitoring of transactions to prevent fraud before completion, as outlined in AWS Machine Learning. Serverless architectures with Lambda and Step Functions streamline these processes for Nationwide.

Under the agreement, AWS provides access to training resources on cloud computing and AI to upskill employees, future-proofing the workforce. This aligns with financial services trends investing in cybersecurity, AI, and cloud literacy, positioning Nationwide to set benchmarks for secure, compliant digital banking by combining customer-first ethos with AWS expertise.

The collaboration reflects a sector-wide pivot to AI-augmented cloud security, with AWS Security Competency Partners offering specialized solutions for AI workloads, including data privacy and threat response, according to the AWS Partner Network. Nationwide’s focus on member trust through enhanced service speed and security sets a benchmark for peers.

WORKFORCE UPSKILLING ESSENTIAL

AWS supports Nationwide staff training and cloud capability uplift, enabling frontline colleagues to leverage technology for better outcomes. FinTech Futures reported the extension, highlighting consolidation of core workloads on AWS for resilience, security, and compliance, as shared in an X post by @FinTech_Futures.

This partnership exemplifies how cloud providers enable financial institutions to balance innovation with compliance amid rising threats. AWS Newsroom noted on X that Amazon Connect powers Call Checker, addressing impersonation scams for 17 million customers, via @AWSNewsroom.

ComputerWeekly covered the expansion into deeper AI integration, underscoring Nationwide’s push for digital growth, as posted by @ComputerWeekly. These developments position Nationwide at the forefront of secure financial innovation.

BROADER INDUSTRY SHIFT

In the wider field, AWS tools like Guidance for Fraud Detection Using Machine Learning on AWS enable automated transaction processing with real-time monitoring, using services such as Amazon VPC for isolated environments and IAM for least privilege access, per AWS Guidance. Serverless Lambda minimizes attack surfaces, enhancing security without managing servers.

Nationwide’s initiative mirrors trends where AI combats evolving fraud, from account takeovers to synthetic identities. The partnership equips the society to detect fraud while enhancing service speed, as WebProNews emphasized, setting standards for the sector facing similar pressures.

By embedding AWS deeply into critical financial infrastructure, Nationwide improves digital and contact center experiences. This strategic fit, as Viswanathan noted, prioritizes safety alongside customer experiences for its vast membership base.