Balancing Act: New Concentration Risk Realities for Fintechs

Key takeways

• Fintechs are facing regulatory pressure to reduce their reliance on single providers for essential systems. 
• DORA applies beyond the EU. US-based fintechs with EU branches, EU customers, or services to EU-licensed financial entities are impacted. 
• Hivelocity is not named as a Critical ICT Third-Party Provider (CTPP) under DORA, making their US-based, multi-region footprint ideal for infrastructure diversification for steady-state workloads.

When critical fintech systems are overly reliant on a single third-party partner, or a small group of them, an outage can have catastrophic outcomes. Risks are further amplified if no clear recovery plan or defined backup is in play.  

As a result, January 2025 saw the EU’s Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) be brought into effect to address this risk through a concept known as vendor concentration. The new legislation requires fintech providers serving EU-licensed entities to show that their critical functions are not overly reliant on any single provider, and that they have a documented alternative in place when an issue occurs. In the US, it’s expected that regulations will soon shift to similar requirements.  

DORA’s Impact In the EU and Beyond 

 DORA Article 28 defines two artifacts: a documented Register of Information for every critical arrangement, and a validated exit plan for each. Supervisory cycles began in Q1 2026, with comprehensive examinations starting later in the year. 

What’s critical to keep in mind is that DORA applies beyond the EU. Any US-headquartered fintech that has EU branches, EU customers, or services to EU-licensed financial entities will need to demonstrate compliance. Additionally, US fintechs with no direct EU presence can get pulled in through their counterparties, whose own compliance posture depends on DORA-compliant contract language. 

In the US, things are different. Guidance around risk, exit options, resilience testing, and single-provider concentration hasn’t changed since 2023.   

At the moment, the US does not currently have the EU’s checklist, defined Register, CTPP bucket, or annual testing schedule. But this is likely to change in the near future.

Navigating Global Fintech Operations as Regulations Evolve 

Fintechs that operate across both the US and EU are facing a decision point: bring their entire operation up to EU standards now, or wait until US regulations catch up? For many, the most practical answer is to proactively build to the EU’s more stringent needs.

What should teams keep in mind as they adjust their infrastructure strategy to meet these new requirements? An infrastructure posture that effectively reduces concentration risk in 2026 does four things at once: 

• Positions steady-state production workloads outside the CTPP concentration bucket so continuity does not depend on a designated provider.  
• Runs the CDE on a vendor with clear attestations and a clear audit boundary, with the shared-responsibility line drawn before the QSA starts.  
• Conducts annual testing and documentation updates for exit plans.  
• Promotes operational reachability, ensuring the next bridge call reaches a person with hardware-level access.

Address Concentration Risk Needs with Hivelocity

When the risk committee turns from the regulatory landscape to vendor selection, Hivelocity provides distinct value compared to the named CTPPs.  

Hivelocity’s strategic position is the high-performance backbone for the modern economy: the bare-metal automation layer for the steady-state stack, with a deliberately small PCI-attested island for the customer-managed CDE that needs it. Hivelocity has three differentiators supporting this strategy: 

1. Bare metal economics with a cloud-like experience. Hivelocity provides the myVelocity portal and public API, fast deployment, automated networking, and IPMI access. Teams keep the workflows they’re already comfortable with on dedicated hardware priced for sustained load. 
2. PCI scope as a limited segment, not a perimeter. Cardholder data environments (CDEs) have been consistently shrinking due to tokenization, hosted payment pages, and P2PE. The scope is tighter than ever. Hivelocity positions the customer-managed CDE as a specialized tier. Meanwhile, other production workloads run on standard infrastructure with better economics.  
3. A small, attested zone for scope-aware buyers. Hivelocity’s PCI-validated facility foundation supports the customer-managed CDE with SOC 2 Type II across core facilities. 

Hivelocity’s unique approach is ideal for addressing concentration risk and compliance needs. As a US-headquartered and US-operated organization, Hivelocity falls outside the current CTPP concentration bucket. Hivelocity facilities also offer connectivity into hyperscale partners and a 99.99% network uptime SLA. All from a single vendor. 

Two Pressures, One Clear Direction 

If concentration risk is on your 2026 procurement or risk register, the next conversation is a vendor diversification review. When you work with Hivelocity, the vendor responsibility matrix, PCI DSS facility-level AoC, and SOC 2 Type II report come out of a single procurement cycle, with a tier-by-tier mapping of where the steady-state production estate fits.  

The next bridge call will land at some point in 2026 or 2027. What gets decided in this cycle determines who is on it, and how much they can do. 

Schedule a call with Hivelocity sales to get started. 

FAQ

Q: Is DORA relevant to fintechs in the US? 
A: Yes, if they have branches or customers in the EU, or if the company serves EU-licensed financial entities. Many US fintechs also encounter DORA indirectly through contract language requested by EU counterparties whose own compliance posture depends on it. 

Q: Does the CTPP list include Hivelocity? 
A: No. Hivelocity is not in the current CTPP concentration bucket.  

Q: What does an exit plan look like in practice? 
A: Under DORA Article 28, the exit plan must be documented and tested at least annually. Organizations must demonstrate the ability to bring critical functions back up on an alternative provider within the time window the regulator requires. In real-world applications, this means a tested second-vendor target with the planning and documentation required to execute.