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FCA allows firms to experiment with AI alongside NVIDIA: " In sectors like mortgages and investments, trust still trumps tech"

ended 09. June 2025

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will launch a Supercharged Sandbox to help firms experiment safely with AI to support innovation. Through a new collaboration, announced today, firms will have the opportunity to experiment with AI using NVIDIA accelerated computing and NVIDIA AI Enterprise Software. This Supercharged Sandbox will 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 sandbox will help firms who are in the discovery and experiment phase with AI. An existing AI Live Testing service helps those further along in development and ready to use AI. In its new strategy, the FCA has committed to supporting economic growth by enabling innovation and harnessing technological advances like AI.

Jessica Rusu, the FCA’s chief data, intelligence and information officer, said:

'This collaboration will help those that want to test AI ideas but who lack the capabilities to do so. We’ll help firms harness AI to benefit our markets and consumers, while supporting economic growth.'

Dr Jochen Papenbrock, EMEA head of financial technology, NVIDIA added:

'AI is fundamentally reshaping the financial sector by automating processes, enhancing data analysis, and improving decision-making, which leads to greater efficiency, accuracy, and risk management across a wide range of financial activities.

'The FCA’s Supercharged Sandbox provides firms with a secure environment to explore AI innovations using NVIDIA’s full stack accelerated computing platform, supporting industry-wide growth and efficiency.'

Newspage asked FS experts for their views, below.

7 responses from the Newspage community

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Ranald Mitchell
Director at bad credit mortgage specialists Charwin Mortgages
The FCA’s Supercharged Sandbox is a bold move that puts the UK at the forefront of AI-driven financial innovation, but let’s keep our feet on the ground. In sectors like mortgages and investments, trust still trumps tech. These are human decisions, not click-to-buy moments. AI can streamline, inform and engage, but it won’t replace the emotional intelligence behind a mortgage conversation or the nuance of a long-term investment plan. The winners will be firms that blend human insight with machine precision, not those who chase digital disruption at the cost of customer connection.
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Tony Redondo
Founder at Cosmos Currency Exchange
The FCA’s Supercharged Sandbox, partnered with NVIDIA, will foster a level playing field among all financial services firms and professionals of all shapes and sizes. To experiment with AI using advanced computing will foster innovation, accelerate AI adoption, enhance competition, and support economic growth with regulatory guidance. Smaller players gain access to AI tools, reducing costs and compliance risks, and help them innovate, enhance their capabilities, and compete with the ‘big boys’. Consumers will benefit from personalized services, lower costs, and enhanced fraud detection, though risks like data privacy and bias remain. The sandbox balances innovation and stability, potentially setting a global standard, but it must maintain consumer trust.
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Riz Malik
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
It’s great to see the FCA appreciating that AI will fundamentally change the way financial services are delivered and, if done correctly, for the better. Those who bury their head in the sand and don’t start to adapt to and embrace these new technologies are going to be left behind.
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Rob Peters
Principal at Simple Fast Mortgage
By partnering with a tech giant like NVIDIA the regulator is signalling that it’s serious about making the UK a global leader in financial innovation.

However, in sectors like mortgages and investments, where financial advice is deeply personal and trust-based, AI can only ever support the human element, it can’t replace it. The challenge will be in ensuring transparency, fairness, and accountability as firms start deploying these tools. Used well, AI could transform efficiency and accessibility, used poorly, it could create new layers of confusion or risk.
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David Belle
Founder and Trader at Fink Money
It is very cute the FCA think firms aren't already doing this. It sounds more like PR than anything tangible. I already know of firms who are integrating AI into their compliance processes using companies like AdClear and their AI software for financial promotions to speed up approval for regulated firms. There are firms that have been using AI and ML in transactions cost analysis in FX and trading execution for a while too, and I presume there are already a load of other use cases that I have not mentioned. This isn't about chastising the FCA here, since I am glad they are being proactive, but I always fear 'why' they are getting involved within a UK context where we seem to love punitive bureacracy and red tape. Innovation shouldn't be stifled but celebrated.
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Hannah Bashford
Director at Model Financial Solutions
On the face of it, this sounds great and a good response by the FCA to an area that is growing in demand and needs to be addressed by our industry. However, having gone onto the site to find out what it’s all about, the sign up screens are not mobile responsive, a basic element of web design. It doesn’t fill me with confidence that the ‘supercharged’ sandbox will foster as much innovation as suggested.
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John Woolfitt
Director at Atlantic Capital Markets
In the current AI revolution this is welcome news from the FCA, but needs to be dealt with caution. AI is certainly an effective tool to streamline process's and operations, which will leave more time to focus on the client and the sandbox offers firm an excellent environement to test out concepts before being formally applied to client facing operations. That all being said I feel its best use would be for streamlining process's and analysing large batches of data, however when it comes to building the initial client picture and understanding objectives I feel this will always be best served with human interaction.