FCA Outlines Vision for 'Agentic' Finance and Responsible AI Adoption in UK Services

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has transitioned its approach to artificial intelligence from observation to active surveillance and testing. As 86% of UK financial firms integrate AI, the regulator is prioritizing "agentic finance"—autonomous systems acting for consumers—while demanding that firms maintain accountability and plan for systemic failures.

What was announced

Jessica Rusu, the FCA’s Chief Data, Information and Intelligence Officer, detailed the regulator's strategy at the Bloomberg UK Policy Series. The shift follows a joint survey with the Bank of England which found that 86% of firms are now utilizing AI in some capacity. The FCA is now moving beyond high-level study toward active testing, assurance, and surveillance of these systems.

A central pillar of the strategy involves the Mills Review, which examines how AI will transform retail financial services by 2030. The regulator is specifically preparing for the rise of "agentic finance," where autonomous technology makes decisions and executes actions on behalf of consumers. To manage this, the FCA is calling for continuous, conditional assurance of AI models.

The regulator also highlighted specific behaviors for the industry. Good practice includes leveraging AI for inclusive product design and vulnerability signaling. Conversely, poor practice involves using AI to exclude vulnerable consumers or overstating what a firm’s AI tools can actually achieve. Internally, the FCA is adopting "agentic" tools itself to oversee 60,000 anti-money laundering firms and automate market transaction reporting.

"We want the UK to be at the forefront of the safe and responsible adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) in financial services, supporting innovation, productivity and economic growth."

Jessica Rusu, FCA chief data, information and intelligence officer

The companies involved

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the regulatory body responsible for the conduct of financial services firms and financial markets in the United Kingdom. It operates with a mandate to ensure these markets remain fair, competitive, and resilient. Currently, the regulator oversees approximately 60,000 firms, including those subject to anti-money laundering (AML) regulations.

The organization is currently repositioning itself as a "smarter regulator." This involves the internal deployment of artificial intelligence tools to automate complex tasks, such as market transaction reporting and the supervision of AML-regulated entities. By adopting the recommendations of the Mills Review, the FCA is aligning its supervisory capabilities with the projected evolution of the retail financial sector through 2030. This strategy places the regulator in a dual role: both as a supervisor of AI adoption across the UK financial landscape and as an active user of the technology within its own operational framework.

What this means

The FCA’s shift toward "agentic regulation" signals that the era of passive AI observation is over. By focusing on autonomous systems that act for consumers, the regulator is putting firms on notice: the "black box" excuse for algorithmic errors will not hold up under the new requirement for continuous assurance. This moves the needle from ethical guidelines to technical accountability. Firms that have overstated their AI capabilities or used data to silently exclude vulnerable demographics are now under direct pressure. The central question for the sector is whether current governance frameworks can actually keep pace with the speed of autonomous financial agents.