• The FCA has partnered with Anthropic to support the second cohort of its Supercharged Sandbox
• Participants will gain access to Claude Code and Claude Cowork to accelerate AI experimentation
• The programme received 199 applications with 21 organisations selected
• Firms will test AI for fraud detection, agent-led payments, compliance automation and financial inclusion
• Anthropic joins NayaOne and NVIDIA as technology partners supporting the initiative
• Jessica Rusu said demand highlights the need for trusted environments to develop AI responsibly
• The FCA has also launched a 10-week Agentic Academy to strengthen AI capabilities
• The regulator continues to favour evidence-led supervision using existing regulatory frameworks



The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has partnered with Anthropic to expand its flagship artificial intelligence innovation programme.

The move gives firms participating in its second Supercharged Sandbox cohort access to Claude Code and Claude Cowork as regulators seek to encourage responsible AI adoption across financial services.

The initiative reflects the regulator's continued strategy of supporting innovation while ensuring firms develop and deploy AI within established governance and risk management frameworks.

The Supercharged Sandbox provides a secure environment where financial institutions and technology firms can experiment with advanced AI using high-performance computing infrastructure, synthetic datasets and regulatory guidance before deploying solutions into live markets.

The second cohort attracted 199 applications, a 51 percent increase over the inaugural programme, with 21 organisations selected to participate between July and December 2026.

Among those joining the latest group are Scottish Widows, TrueLayer, Money Advice Trust, Ubyx in partnership with Amazon, Sardine AI, Trustie Labs, Deepflow, Condukt and several specialist fintech firms.

Participants will focus on a range of practical applications including safer agent-led payments and commerce, fraud and economic crime detection, AI governance and accountability, compliance automation and widening financial access for vulnerable and underserved consumers.

Anthropic joins existing technology partners NayaOne and NVIDIA, with the addition of Claude's enterprise AI capabilities intended to accelerate development and testing of sophisticated AI use cases.

Jessica Rusu, the FCA's chief data, intelligence and information officer, said the growing demand for the programme demonstrates how strongly firms value opportunities to innovate within a trusted regulatory setting.

"The high level of interest in the Supercharged Sandbox demonstrates the demand for trusted environments where firms can experiment safely and responsibly," Rusu said. "With the support of Anthropic, participants will benefit from the technology they need to accelerate innovation."

She added that supporting responsible AI adoption is "central to our commitment to supporting economic growth – enabling firms to make the most of technological advances while maintaining the UK's position at the forefront of responsible AI adoption and innovation."

The announcement comes as regulators globally continue to balance enthusiasm for AI-driven productivity gains against concerns over governance, transparency, operational resilience and model risk.

Rather than introducing dedicated AI regulations, the FCA has consistently stated that existing financial services rules should provide the foundation for supervising AI deployment.

The regulator believes practical experimentation through programmes such as the Supercharged Sandbox and AI Live Testing will generate evidence to inform future supervisory expectations while avoiding unnecessary barriers to innovation.

Alongside the Sandbox, the FCA has launched a new Agentic Academy, a 10-week specialist programme delivered with the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship.

The academy is designed to help selected firms deepen their understanding of emerging agentic AI technologies, governance frameworks and implementation challenges, complementing the practical development work taking place within the Sandbox.

The FCA's broader AI strategy has evolved rapidly over the past year. Through its AI Lab, AI Live Testing programme and Supercharged Sandbox, the regulator is building an ecosystem that allows firms to test new technologies at different stages of maturity while providing supervisors with valuable insights into how AI is transforming financial services. The regulator has repeatedly emphasised that innovation and consumer protection are not competing objectives but complementary goals that should advance together.