The FCA has confirmed eight firms for its second AI Live Testing cohort, including Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Experian, and UBS.
The programme, delivered in partnership with Advai, a UK-based specialist in automated AI assurance, is designed to help firms explore risk management frameworks and live monitoring approaches to support responsible AI deployment across consumer and market-facing applications.
Diverse use cases under live testing
The second cohort reflects the breadth of AI adoption currently under way across financial services. Firms are testing both customer-facing and B2B applications, spanning AI-enabled targeted investment support, credit score insights for consumers, agentic payments, AML detection, and KYC processes.
The range of underlying AI models is equally varied, encompassing agentic AI, small language models, and neurosymbolic AI, a relatively emerging approach that combines symbolic reasoning with machine learning. This diversity signals that UK-regulated firms are moving beyond narrow automation use cases into more complex, decision-making AI environments.
Applications for the second cohort opened in January 2026, with live testing beginning in April. Testing is expected to conclude by the end of 2026, and an evaluation report is scheduled for publication in Q1 2027.
Regulatory context and broader findings
According to the official press release, the announcement coincides with the publication of the FCA's Innovation Insights report, which tracks how fintech activity is evolving in the UK and documents what the regulator is observing from firms engaging with its innovation services.
Separately, the FCA has confirmed it will publish a good and poor practice report on AI in financial services later in 2026. That publication is intended to help firms across the sector navigate responsible AI adoption, whether or not they are participating in the live testing programme.
The AI Live Testing initiative sits within a wider UK regulatory posture that seeks to support technology adoption without weakening consumer protections or market stability. Through the process of working directly with firms through structured testing environments, the FCA is building an evidence base around live AI deployment, a model that may inform future guidance or rule-making as the technology continues to evolve.
