United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published its annual work programme for 2026/27, setting out how it plans to integrate artificial intelligence into regulatory workflows to speed up authorisations, identify risks earlier and streamline supervision while keeping people central to decision-making. It also issued a consultation on fees and levies for 2026/27 and released its perimeter report highlighting issues at the edge of its remit and areas where legislative change may be needed. Key operational measures include an internally developed authorisation tool to be integrated into existing FCA systems, the use of generative AI to review documents from firms, and a new sandbox to test automated data feeds between firms and the FCA. The programme also commits to smarter case handling and triage of intelligence, an expanded Supercharged Sandbox for a new cohort of firms with access to synthetic data, and burden reduction through removing three regular data returns, reducing the frequency of another, and shifting more tasks onto My FCA. Growth, consumer and financial crime initiatives include consulting on the pension charge cap, proposing removal of the seven-day research waiting period for initial public offerings, expanding overseas presence to the United Arab Emirates, China and India, beginning regulation of deferred payment credit (Buy Now Pay Later) from July with affordability checks and authorisation application reviews, and creating a single intelligence-led service to intervene on high-harm financial promotions. The fees consultation proposes a 1% increase in minimum and flat rate fees and application fees, with the annual funding requirement increase set at 0.7%; the perimeter report asks for government action across 15 areas including Financial Promotion Order exemptions, trustee authorisation thresholds, the boundary for sports and non-financial spread betting, and modernising payments regulation, and flags risks outside the perimeter such as “Annex 1 firms” regulated only for anti-money laundering purposes, the use of general-purpose AI for guidance on borrowing, saving and investing, and speculative prediction market products. Following testing, generative AI tools are due to start rolling out across authorisations and supervision, and Buy Now Pay Later regulation is scheduled to begin from July.
Financial Conduct Authority 2026-03-26
United Kingdom's Financial Conduct Authority sets out 2026/27 work programme with AI-enabled authorisations and a proposed 1% rise in minimum and flat fees
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has released its 2026/27 work programme, focusing on integrating artificial intelligence into regulatory processes to enhance authorisations, risk identification, and supervision. Key initiatives include a new authorisation tool, generative AI for document review, and a sandbox for automated data feeds. The FCA also plans to regulate Buy Now Pay Later from July and has issued a consultation on fees and levies, proposing a 1% increase in minimum and flat fees.