The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has partnered with tech giant NVIDIA in its latest move to accelerate AI innovation within the UK’s financial sector.
“This collaboration will help those that want to test AI ideas but who lack the capabilities to do so,” said Jessica Rusu, the FCA’s Chief Data, Intelligence and Information Officer. “We’ll help firms harness AI to benefit our markets and consumers, while supporting economic growth.”
In the race to modernise payments, AI promises significant gains including faster onboarding, improved fraud detection and real-time compliance. However, turning these promises into reality remains out of reach for many financial firms.
Innovation is often held back by legacy systems, fragmented data and the complexity of regulation. As AI continues to reshape the financial landscape, payments providers face a dilemma: move quickly and risk compliance issues, or hesitate and risk falling behind.
Now, one of the UK’s financial regulators is offering a potential way forward.
Announced on June 9, the FCA has opened applications for its new Supercharged Sandbox, a testing environment designed to help firms safely experiment with AI while receiving regulatory guidance and access to technical tools.
The initiative includes support from NVIDIA, with its accelerated computing and enterprise AI software available to participating firms.
Jochen Papenbrock, EMEA Head of Financial Technology at NVIDIA, highlighted the technology’s role in reshaping the sector.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Why the AI is accelerating its AI efforts
The FCA’s involvement in artificial intelligence isn’t new.
In recent years, the regulator has taken steps to support responsible innovation across financial services, but 2024 and 2025 have seen a sharp acceleration in its AI strategy.
A turning point came at the end of last year, when Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrote to UK regulators urging them to identify and remove barriers to economic growth. In its response on January 16, the FCA committed to making “growth a cornerstone” of its strategy through to 2030.
Starmer’s stance on AI has further shaped the regulator’s approach. In a speech in January 2025, the Prime Minister described AI as a “unique chance” to grow the economy and raise living standards, while hinting the UK would pursue its own regulatory path rather than follow frameworks set out by the EU or US.
Rather than impose new regulations, the UK has signalled it will work with industry to test and understand AI before legislating, a stance that aligns with the FCA’s own preference for live testing and sandboxes.
