Key AWS Services for Financial Services Workloads[edit]
Here are the most important AWS services used in the financial services industry:
Amazon EC2 - Elastic compute capacity that provides resizable compute capacity in the cloud. Financial institutions use it for running applications, hosting trading platforms, and risk simulations.
Amazon S3 - Scalable object storage for data archiving, backup, and regulatory compliance document storage. Financial companies store transaction records, statements, and other financial documents here.
Amazon RDS - Managed relational database service supporting multiple database engines. Used for customer data, transaction processing, and financial record-keeping.
AWS Lambda - Serverless compute service that runs code in response to events. Financial firms use it for real-time fraud detection, transaction processing, and automated reporting.
Amazon DynamoDB - Fast, flexible NoSQL database service for applications needing consistent, single-digit millisecond performance. Powers high-frequency trading platforms and real-time risk analytics.
AWS CloudTrail - Service that provides governance, compliance, and audit capabilities. Essential for meeting financial regulatory requirements by tracking user activity and API usage.
Amazon GuardDuty - Threat detection service that continuously monitors for malicious activity. Helps financial institutions protect sensitive customer financial data.
AWS Key Management Service (KMS) - Creates and controls encryption keys for data security. Critical for protecting financial information and meeting compliance requirements.
Amazon Redshift - Data warehouse service for analyzing structured data across data warehouses and data lakes. Used for financial analytics, risk management, and business intelligence.
AWS Direct Connect - Dedicated network connection from premises to AWS. Financial institutions use it for consistent network performance and meeting low-latency requirements for trading applications.
Amazon SageMaker - Fully managed machine learning service. Used for credit scoring models, fraud detection, algorithmic trading, and personalized banking experiences.
AWS Shield - Managed DDoS protection service. Protects financial websites and applications from denial of service attacks that could disrupt service.
Amazon API Gateway - Create, publish, and manage APIs. Financial institutions use it to securely expose payment processing and account management functionality.
AWS Config - Assessment, auditing, and evaluation service for resource configurations. Helps maintain compliance with financial regulations through continuous monitoring.
Amazon QuickSight - Business intelligence service for creating and publishing dashboards. Used for visualizing financial data, market trends, and customer analytics.