Jessica Rusu, chief data, information and intelligence officer at the FCA, recently gave a speech on using AI and tech to deliver the FCA's strategic priorities.
The FCA's strategic priorities are:
- Innovation will help firms attract new customers and serve their existing ones better.
- Innovation will help fight financial crime, allowing the FCA and firms to be one step ahead of the criminals who seek to disrupt markets.
- Innovation will help the FCA to be a smarter regulator, improving its processes and allowing it to become more efficient and effective. For example, it will stop asking firms for data that it does not need.
- Innovation will help support growth.
Industry and innovators, entrepreneurs and explorers want a practical, pro-growth and proportionate regulatory environment.The FCA is starting a new supercharged Sandbox in October which is likely to cover topics such as financial inclusion, financial wellbeing, and financial crime and fraud.
The FCA has carried out joint surveys with the Bank of England which found that 75% of firms have already adopted some form of AI. However, most are using it internally rather than in ways that could benefit customers and markets. The FCA understands from its own experience of tech adoption that it's often internal processes that are easier to develop. It is testing large language models to analyse text and deliver efficiencies in its authorisations and supervisory processes. It wants to respond, make decisions and raise concerns faster, without compromising quality.
The FCA's synthetic data expert group is about to publish its second report offering industry-led insight into navigating the use of synthetic data.
Firms have also expressed concerns to the FCA about potentially ambiguous governance frameworks stopping firms from innovating with AI. The FCA believes that its existing frameworks, such as the Senior Managers Regime and the Consumer Duty, give it oversight of AI in financial services and mean that it does not need new rules. In fact, it says that avoiding new regulation allows it to remain nimble and responsive as technology and markets change and its processes aren't fast enough to keep up with AI developments.
The speech follows a consultation by the FCA on AI live testing, which ended on 13 June 2025. The FCA plans to launch AI Live Testing, as part of the existingAI Lab, to support the safe and responsible deployment of AI by firms and achieve positive outcomes for UK consumers and markets.
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