FCA has accepted 13 firms into cohort 7 of the regulatory sandbox. It received 58 applications, mainly from firms in the retail investment and retail lending sectors.
FCA was interested in proposals that saw more innovation in products and services that would detect fraud and scams, support vulnerable customers or improve access to finance for SMEs.
Among the firms selected are firms that:
- allow UK-based expats and immigrants to pay bill providers in their home countries instantly using their UK bank accounts;
- digital ID and KYC services;
- an instore credit platform for brokers, linked to a panel of lenders;
- DLT platforms to ease fundraising; and
- a system that will cancel out behavioural biases to save customers money.
In addition to the new domestic sandbox, FCA is also working with the Global Financial Innovation Network to select a group of firms for cross-border testing plans.