FCA Launches Mills Review to Assess Impact of Advanced AI on Retail Financial Markets

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has launched a comprehensive review to evaluate how rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) could transform retail financial markets, consumer interactions, and regulatory oversight. Titled the Mills Review, the initiative is spearheaded by FCA Executive Director Sheldon Mills. The project builds on the regulator's previous technological initiatives, including its AI Discussion Paper, AI Sprint, and the FCA AI Lab, which features live testing and a Supercharged Sandbox supported by NVIDIA. The review aims to examine long-term developments looking toward 2030 and beyond, focusing on emerging technologies such as generative and autonomous agentic AI. The regulator noted that while AI is already widely embedded across the financial sector, upcoming technological shifts could fundamentally alter market structures, commercial competition, and the ways consumers access retail financial products. The FCA is seeking input from industry stakeholders across four core themes: the future trajectory of autonomous and agentic AI systems, their broader effects on market structures and UK competitiveness, the impact on retail consumer behaviors and expectations, and the necessary evolution of regulatory frameworks to ensure retail financial markets function effectively. While wholesale markets and wider societal impacts remain outside the formal scope, the review will consider indirect spillover effects on retail services. The FCA also noted that it is conducting separate work on the impact of AI in wholesale markets through its live testing partnerships. The regulator emphasized that it does not intend to introduce AI-specific legislation, choosing instead to rely on its existing outcomes-focused, principles-based framework, including the Consumer Duty. Stakeholders, including regulated firms, consumer advocacy groups, technology providers, and academics, have until February 24, 2026, to submit responses. The findings will shape formal recommendations to be presented to the FCA Board in summer 2026, culminating in a public report.