The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a pioneering “AI Live Testing” initiative — the first of its kind in the UK financial sector — giving select major firms a controlled environment to trial and refine responsible AI tools for real-world deployment.   The goal: help firms navigate evaluation frameworks, ongoing monitoring, governance and risk management — enabling use cases such as debt-resolution, financial advice, customer engagement, complaints handling and

The FCA h as announced a major simplification of the complaints reporting process for regulated firms. From 2025, firms will no longer need to submit detailed twice-yearly complaint returns. Instead, the FCA will use smarter data collection and risk-based oversight to reduce the reporting burden—particularly for smaller firms—while still maintaining strong consumer protection standards. This is part of the FCA’s wider move to streamline regulatory processes, remove unnecessa

FCA Authorisations Update: 2025–26 Q2 – What You Need to Know   The FCA has released its Q2 service-metric performance, showing a mixed picture across authorisations:   🔹 Most applications are still being processed within statutory deadlines, but some areas remain under pressure due to case complexity and increased scrutiny. 🔹 Higher-risk and more complex applications are taking longer, reflecting the FCA’s continued focus on robust assessments, operational resilience, fina

The FCA’s latest thematic review highlights major shortcomings in how UK firms assess financial-crime risk. Many Business-Wide Risk Assessments (BWRA) and Customer Risk Assessments (CRA) are still too generic, poorly evidenced, or disconnected from real-world controls. Key gaps identified include:  • Risk assessments not tailored to the firm’s actual products, customers or exposure.  • Weak links between BWRA findings and monitoring/testing.  • Senior management focusing heav

FCA Warns: Weak Risk Frameworks Won’t Cut It — Time for Smarter Oversight and AI-Driven Insight The FCA’s latest multi-firm review has highlighted major weaknesses in how regulated firms assess and manage risk. The regulator found that many firms: Still use underdeveloped risk frameworks that don’t reflect their size or complexity Fail to stress-test liquidity risks or model realistic scenarios Overlook group-level interdependencies, missing how parent companies or affiliates

Big news from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) – they’re sharpening their fraud prevention toolkit. The regulator announced it will now have the power to cancel or amend a firm’s permission within 28 days if the firm fails to take appropriate action after a warning. Key highlights: Firms must now prove they are actively using the regulated activity they’re authorised for — or risk losing that permission. The move is aimed at tackling impersonation and cloning of authoris

FCA extends car finance compensation plan as lenders push back The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a consultation on an industry-wide compensation scheme for motor-finance customers who may have been mis-sold deals between 6 April 2007 and 1 November 2024. Key points: The issue centres on hidden or undisclosed commissions (including discretionary commission arrangements) that may have inflated costs for borrowers. Around 14.2 million agreements — roughly 44% of

AI Growth, Human Cuts: What Big Tech’s Job Losses Signal for Financial Services   Big tech is doubling down on AI—but not necessarily on people. IBM, despite beating expectations on revenue and profit, announced cuts to its global workforce as it pivots toward high-margin software and AI-driven growth.   Similarly, Salesforce and Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook) have cut hundreds of UK jobs even though their profits have soared—reflecting the collision between “AI obsession

FCA permissions show sharp drop in consumer credit roles — Q2 2025 highlights Recent analysis of FCA permissions data reveals a notable...

FCA Authorisations Service Performance – Q1 2025/26 The latest FCA metrics show strong performance across most authorisation areas, with...

The FCA has launched a new & improved Handbook website Published: 4 July 2025 (beta now live)   Full details: https://www.fca.org.uk/news...