diff --git a/artifacts/flagger/crd.yaml b/artifacts/flagger/crd.yaml
index dcf0ae85..0c37ebc3 100644
--- a/artifacts/flagger/crd.yaml
+++ b/artifacts/flagger/crd.yaml
@@ -733,7 +733,6 @@ spec:
               type: object
               required:
                 - type
-                - address
               properties:
                 type:
                   description: Type of this provider
@@ -755,6 +754,9 @@ spec:
                     name:
                       description: Name of the Kubernetes secret
                       type: string
+                region:
+                  description: Region of the provider
+                  type: string
             query:
               description: Query of this metric template
               type: string
diff --git a/charts/flagger/crds/crd.yaml b/charts/flagger/crds/crd.yaml
index dcf0ae85..0c37ebc3 100644
--- a/charts/flagger/crds/crd.yaml
+++ b/charts/flagger/crds/crd.yaml
@@ -733,7 +733,6 @@ spec:
               type: object
               required:
                 - type
-                - address
               properties:
                 type:
                   description: Type of this provider
@@ -755,6 +754,9 @@ spec:
                     name:
                       description: Name of the Kubernetes secret
                       type: string
+                region:
+                  description: Region of the provider
+                  type: string
             query:
               description: Query of this metric template
               type: string
diff --git a/kustomize/base/flagger/crd.yaml b/kustomize/base/flagger/crd.yaml
index dcf0ae85..0c37ebc3 100644
--- a/kustomize/base/flagger/crd.yaml
+++ b/kustomize/base/flagger/crd.yaml
@@ -733,7 +733,6 @@ spec:
               type: object
               required:
                 - type
-                - address
               properties:
                 type:
                   description: Type of this provider
@@ -755,6 +754,9 @@ spec:
                     name:
                       description: Name of the Kubernetes secret
                       type: string
+                region:
+                  description: Region of the provider
+                  type: string
             query:
               description: Query of this metric template
               type: string
diff --git a/pkg/apis/flagger/v1beta1/metric.go b/pkg/apis/flagger/v1beta1/metric.go
index a2bbdb32..549fcfb3 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/flagger/v1beta1/metric.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/flagger/v1beta1/metric.go
@@ -64,11 +64,16 @@ type MetricTemplateProvider struct {
 	Type string `json:"type,omitempty"`
 
 	// HTTP(S) address of this provider
+	// +optional
 	Address string `json:"address,omitempty"`
 
 	// Secret reference containing the provider credentials
 	// +optional
 	SecretRef *corev1.LocalObjectReference `json:"secretRef,omitempty"`
+
+	// Region of the provider
+	// +optional
+	Region string `json:"region,omitempty"`
 }
 
 // MetricTemplateModel is the query template model
diff --git a/pkg/metrics/providers/cloudwatch.go b/pkg/metrics/providers/cloudwatch.go
index 0fba546b..f5c3acbd 100644
--- a/pkg/metrics/providers/cloudwatch.go
+++ b/pkg/metrics/providers/cloudwatch.go
@@ -4,7 +4,6 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"net/http"
-	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws"
@@ -33,14 +32,16 @@ type cloudWatchClient interface {
 // NewCloudWatchProvider takes a metricInterval, a provider spec and the credentials map, and
 // returns a cloudWatchProvider ready to execute queries against the AWS CloudWatch metrics
 func NewCloudWatchProvider(metricInterval string, provider flaggerv1.MetricTemplateProvider) (*CloudWatchProvider, error) {
-	region := strings.TrimLeft(provider.Address, "monitoring.")
-	region = strings.TrimRight(region, ".amazonaws.com")
-	sess, err := session.NewSession(
-		aws.NewConfig().
-			WithRegion(region).
-			WithMaxRetries(cloudWatchMaxRetries).
-			WithEndpoint(provider.Address),
-	)
+	if provider.Region == "" {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("region not specified")
+	}
+
+	sess, err := session.NewSession(aws.NewConfig().
+		WithRegion(provider.Region).WithMaxRetries(cloudWatchMaxRetries))
+
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("error creating aws session: %s", err.Error())
+	}
 
 	md, err := time.ParseDuration(metricInterval)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/pkg/metrics/providers/cloudwatch_test.go b/pkg/metrics/providers/cloudwatch_test.go
index 4952dc44..58cfb3e2 100644
--- a/pkg/metrics/providers/cloudwatch_test.go
+++ b/pkg/metrics/providers/cloudwatch_test.go
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/aws/awserr"
 	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/cloudwatch"
+	"github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go/service/costandusagereportservice"
 
 	flaggerv1 "github.com/weaveworks/flagger/pkg/apis/flagger/v1beta1"
 )
@@ -23,19 +24,28 @@ func (c cloudWatchClientMock) GetMetricData(_ *cloudwatch.GetMetricDataInput) (*
 }
 
 func TestNewCloudWatchProvider(t *testing.T) {
-	p, err := NewCloudWatchProvider(
-		"5m",
-		flaggerv1.MetricTemplateProvider{
-			Address: "monitoring.ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com",
-		})
+	t.Run("ok", func(t *testing.T) {
+		p, err := NewCloudWatchProvider(
+			"5m",
+			flaggerv1.MetricTemplateProvider{
+				Region: costandusagereportservice.AWSRegionApEast1,
+			})
 
-	if err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
-	}
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatal(err)
+		}
 
-	if exp := 5 * 60 * time.Second * cloudWatchStartDeltaMultiplierOnMetricInterval; p.startDelta != exp {
-		t.Fatalf("expected %d but got %d", exp, p.startDelta)
-	}
+		if exp := 5 * 60 * time.Second * cloudWatchStartDeltaMultiplierOnMetricInterval; p.startDelta != exp {
+			t.Fatalf("expected %d but got %d", exp, p.startDelta)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("ng", func(t *testing.T) {
+		_, err := NewCloudWatchProvider("5m", flaggerv1.MetricTemplateProvider{})
+		if err == nil {
+			t.Fatal("error expected since region was not specified")
+		}
+	})
 }
 
 func TestCloudWatchProvider_IsOnline(t *testing.T) {
diff --git a/pkg/metrics/providers/prometheus.go b/pkg/metrics/providers/prometheus.go
index 8fe215d8..bd781529 100644
--- a/pkg/metrics/providers/prometheus.go
+++ b/pkg/metrics/providers/prometheus.go
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ type prometheusResponse struct {
 // returns a Prometheus client ready to execute queries against the API
 func NewPrometheusProvider(provider flaggerv1.MetricTemplateProvider, credentials map[string][]byte) (*PrometheusProvider, error) {
 	promURL, err := url.Parse(provider.Address)
-	if err != nil {
+	if provider.Address == "" || err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("%s address %s is not a valid URL", provider.Type, provider.Address)
 	}