What advisers need to know about autonomous finance and the FCA’s 7 point plan

A fifth of consumers, equivalent to 11 million UK adults, are likely to use AI that can act autonomously within pre-set goals, according to research commissioned by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Getting an AI-generated opinion is one thing. Giving the software permission to move money and make financial decisions is quite another. The technology may be autonomous; the complaints will presumably still require a human department.

That willingness to hand over control sits at the heart of the Mills Review, the FCA’s examination of how artificial intelligence could reshape retail financial services by 2030 and beyond. Led by FCA executive director Sheldon Mills and informed by contributions from across financial services, it is described as the first review of its kind initiated by a regulator anywhere in the world.

“Artificial intelligence will transform financial services by 2030. It creates significant opportunities for consumers, firms and the wider economy,” Mills said.

The review identifies four shifts that the FCA believes will shape the market:

• Firms will use AI to change how they operate.
• Consumer journeys and financial decision-making will evolve.
• Competition and market power will be reshaped.
• Fraud and cyber risks will become more serious.

That final point deserves at least as much attention as the promised efficiency gains. AI could make financial services cheaper, faster and more personalised, but it could also give fraudsters better tools, increase cyber-security risks and concentrate power among the relatively small number of businesses with enough data and computing capacity to build advanced models.

Consumers appear to understand at least some of that trade-off. Millions may be willing to use autonomous financial tools, yet the FCA’s research also found continuing concerns about trust and control. Quite reasonably, people want to know who is responsible when software given permission to act independently makes an expensive mess of it.

Autonomous finance promises convenience. Accountability will probably remain stubbornly manual.

The FCA’s seven-point plan

The review makes seven recommendations for the FCA’s board and executive:

1. Secure and adapt the regulatory perimeter.
2. Strengthen coordination and oversight across the financial system.
3. Monitor the move towards autonomous models and adjust regulation accordingly.
4. Expand the FCA’s AI Lab to support innovation in financial-services models and systems.
5. Establish the foundations required for ‘agentic finance’.
6. Develop an AI-enabled, agentic model of supervision.
7. Create a trusted, public-interest financial capability service powered by AI.

The full Mills Review is available on the FCA website.

For advice firms, this isn’t merely a story about adopting another piece of software. AI could change how clients research products, reach decisions and arrive at meetings. Some may already have followed a recommendation or taken action before asking an adviser whether any of it was sensible.

Firms will have to decide where automation genuinely improves their service and where human judgement remains necessary. Speed has its uses, but so do context, accountability and somebody capable of noticing that a client’s stated goal isn’t always the problem that needs solving.

At The Timebank, we’ll stick with human intelligence for technical analysis and suitability work. It may not sound as futuristic as agentic finance, but it does come with a person you can call when something needs explaining.

The machine may act alone. Someone will still need to explain the bill.