Government publishes AI adoption plan for financial services

Harriet Rees and Dr Rohit Dhawan have developed an AI adoption plan for the financial services sector.

The plan, which incorporates 10 recommendations, revolves around:

• the need for regulatory clarity – proposing a clear, authoritative single source of cross-regulator guidance;
• ensuring the regulatory perimeter is right – given the Mills Review observation that 20% of UK adults are open to AI making decisions for them, and around 26% using general purpose AI tools to give them financial advice, usually without realising that the tools are unregulated and they will have no recourse for wrong advice;
• AI sovereignty and resilience – noting that at the moment there is no option for UK banks other than to rely on a small number of providers, which brings risks that the UK is addressing by the first CTP designations;
• addressing the need for the step change in skills and talent, since people at all levels within organisations need AI-related skills so they can understand it;
• being ready for agentic payments, with an urgent needs to clarify how existing legal and regulatory frameworks apply, or need to adapt.