The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is teaming up with technology development giant NVIDIA, launching a new sandbox environment to help fintechs and banks experiment safely with AI to support innovation.
Through a new initiative dubbed the ‘Supercharged Sandbox’, the FCA is enabling UK banks and finance firms to test various AI solutions using NVIDIA accelerated computing and NVIDIA AI Enterprise Software.
The regulator says the 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 move comes after the FCA revealed its strategy to support economic growth by enabling innovation and harnessing technological advances like AI.
“This collaboration will help those that want to test AI ideas but 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.”
The sandbox will help firms that are in the discovery and experimentation phase with AI. An existing AI Live Testing service helps those further along in development and ready to use AI.
The move closely aligns with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer‘s ‘AI Opportunities Action Plan’, which was announced in January and aims to ensure that AI is used to drive economic growth.
Dr Jochen Papenbrock, head of financial technology for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at NVIDIA, also 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.”
