The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced on Monday that it has partnered with NVIDIA to help firms in the financial services industry build new, AI-driven products and services.
“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.”
The British regulator said that the UK firms can now use NVIDIA accelerated computing and NVIDIA AI Enterprise Software if they take part in the regulator’s ‘Supercharged Sandbox’.
The Supercharged Sandbox was designed by the regulator as a way for financial services firms to experiment with AI, so that they can use the technology to make new products, services, and internal tools.
Any firm, regardless of size, can apply to be part of the sandbox. The only conditions are that the AI tool they want to create is at an early stage, has some relevance to financial services, and has a ‘genuinely innovative’ approach to some new product or service.
Alternatively it can be a piece of technology that companies use themselves, like something to make KYC processes faster, for example.
The sandbox will start in October for successful applicants.
Brokers already using AI for compliance
TradeInformer understands that for FCA-regulated brokers, the regulator has actively been encouraging firms to make use of AI.
Firms are already using the technology for some compliance processes.
For example, speaking an event earlier this year, the CEO of one major broker noted that his firm already uses AI for things like KYC and AML checks.
Although it’s at an earlier stage, some providers do also appear to be using the technology for other operational parts of the business, like dealing desks and marketing.
