The FCA is not planning on developing any additional regulations concerning the use of artificial intelligence (AI) by financial services firms.
In a note published on its website ahead of the launch of its “supercharged” AI sandbox, the regulator said that it will rely on its existing framework, which it said “mitigates many of the risks associated with AI”.
The FCA said it did address parameters for the safe use of AI under Consumer Duty.
Whilst the regulator said that not adding additional regulation is “the best way to support UK growth and competitiveness” due to the fast-moving nature of AI technology, it reserved the right to update the existing regulatory regime if needed.
The FCA has launched what it calls a “supercharged sandbox” to help firm experiment safely with AI from October.
Within the sandbox, firms will have the opportunity to use Nvidia-accelerated computing and Nvidia AI enterprise software.
It said the tie-up would give firms access to better data, technical expertise and regulatory support to speed up innovation. It is open to any financial services firm looking to innovate and experiment with AI.
The regulator said the sandbox was aimed at helping firms which are in the discovery and experimental phase with AI. An existing AI Live Testing service helps those further along in development and ready to use AI.
Applications for AI live testing are open until 15 September.
The regulator plans to publish an evaluation report on the AI live testing in October 2026.
A recent survey of financial advisers by fintech Dynamic Planner found that 94% of advisers expect AI to be “positive” for the advice industry with 85% of advice professionals describing data gathering as “essential or useful” for their firm.
Advisers were using AI for meeting transcription and summarisation, document analysis and data extraction. Report generation and personalisation were also mentioned as benefits.
Although firms are keen to embrace AI, under a third are using it, with just over a half actively investigating and most of the remainder expecting it to become useful soon.
