# Asda and Natwest hit as Microsoft outage sparks ‘bad day for UK PLC’

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/asda-and-natwest-hit-as-microsoft-outage-sparks-bad-day-for-uk-plc/
- Published: 2026-11-13T12:50:15+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-13T13:34:04+00:00
- Original publisher: City AM (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://www.cityam.com/asda-and-natwest-hit-as-microsoft-outage-sparks-bad-day-for-uk-plc/
- Topics: Business, UK, World

## Key points

- Microsoft’s outage disrupted businesses and services in the UK.
- Asda, NatWest and rail customers were affected.
- The incident renewed concerns about reliance on major cloud providers.

## Summary

A global Microsoft outage disrupted British businesses, affecting communication, customer services and financial transactions. It highlighted the economic risks of relying heavily on a single technology provider, particularly when essential services fail at the same time.

Asda reported problems with online registrations, password resets and email changes, though its operations were later restored; NatWest and rail services were also affected. Microsoft said the disruption had spread to 74 countries, blamed servers becoming unexpectedly unavailable and reported no evidence of a cyberattack. The company was gradually restoring services, while analysts warned that delays could be costly and renew questions about resilience: Microsoft and Amazon Web Services together are estimated to hold 70 to 80 per cent of the UK public cloud market.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.