The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) just did something surprising. They teamed up with Nvidia to let fintech companies test out new AI tools. And they’re not just testing any AI. They’re testing the kind that can almost cross the line into giving real financial advice.
At London Tech Week 2025, Jessica Rusu, Chief Data, Information, and Intelligence Officer at the FCA, outlined the regulator’s bold 5-year strategy aimed at deepening trust, rebalancing risk, supporting growth, and improving lives within the UK’s financial sector.
Central to this vision is the FCA’s newly launched AI Lab, which explores both risks and opportunities of AI through four dedicated zones: the AI Sprint, AI Input Zone, AI Spotlight, and the Supercharged Sandbox.
The Lab fosters collaboration between regulators, industry experts, and innovators, promoting responsible AI development without imposing a separate AI-specific regulatory framework. Instead, existing rules such as the Consumer Duty and Senior Managers Regime will guide AI adoption while the FCA offers practical support to firms.
The key announcement was the Supercharged Sandbox, an enhanced environment offering advanced GPU computing power and Nvidia’s AI Enterprise tools to firms developing AI-driven financial technologies. This initiative, developed in partnership with Nvidia and NayaOne, allows startups and researchers to experiment with AI models efficiently, tapping into Nvidia’s resources, training, and global ecosystem.
Applications for this new Sandbox are open now, with live PoC testing starting in October 2025. The FCA also introduced AI Live Testing, where companies can trial AI models alongside the regulator in real-world conditions aiming to shape how AI is evaluated and deployed safely in financial services.
The new sandbox project is meant to see if AI can help with data analysis, automation, and managing risk. All without setting off those tricky rules around financial advice.
If you’re a fintech startup, this is exciting. It’s a chance to test AI-powered money tools without getting into legal trouble.
The FCA is also open to rethinking what counts as “advice” versus “guidance” when AI is involved.
AI could help regular people get the kind of financial service that usually only rich people get from private banks. Personalized investing tips. Automated portfolio balancing. Better risk checks. All without needing to be registered as a financial advisor.
This is classic FCA. They led the way on open banking. They created the first regulatory sandbox. They’ve been quiet for a while, but now it looks like they’re back in the innovation game.
Here’s what you get in the new sandbox:
- Full access to Nvidia’s fancy AI tools
- Real financial data to test with
- A safe and legal testing space
- Help from the FCA on what’s allowed and what’s not
But there are still some questions.
For example, if you’re building an app that uses open banking data to check your spending and tweak your investments, what Nvidia tools will you actually get to use? What does the FCA’s help look like day to day? And how exactly will they decide if your AI app is giving real advice or just a helpful nudge?
These questions matter. Because if this works, AI could bring private banking-style services to everyone. No big fees. No need for huge balances. Just smart, automated money help in your phone.
Of course, it could also end up being a lot of talk and not much real change. Regulators love to “stay committed to innovation,” even if nothing actually happens.
Maybe this new FCA will help the UK stay the best place in the world for FinTech. Maybe it will stop the next big AI mistake before it happens. Or maybe… they just want to sound cool at Tech Week.
We’ll have to wait and see.
