Anthropic has agreed to supply its Claude AI models to financial technology firms selected for the UK Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) second Supercharged Sandbox cohort, an initiative designed to support AI-driven innovation in a regulated environment.
AI applications in finance
Participants in the new cohort will have access to the full suite of Claude AI offerings, including Claude Code and Claude Cowork. These tools are intended to help firms build use cases such as AI-powered payment agents, fraud detection platforms, automated compliance solutions, and enhanced models for AI governance.
The FCA’s second cohort brings together 21 organizations, with notable names such as Scottish Widows, a leading life insurance and pensions company; Money Advice Trust, a registered charity providing financial guidance; and TrueLayer, an open banking platform.
The regulator said that it reviewed 199 applications for the latest round, a 51% rise compared to the inaugural cohort, indicating a surge in interest among financial companies to test AI tools within a supervised regulatory framework.
The FCA reported, “There has been a significant increase in demand for our Sandbox environment, underlining the growing need for financial firms to safely experiment with AI platforms and solutions.”
Anthropic, based in San Francisco, specializes in advanced AI model development and has positioned Claude as a powerful tool for enterprise-scale applications seeking responsible and secure AI integration.
Mini dictionary: Anthropic is an artificial intelligence startup headquartered in San Francisco, best known for developing Claude, a family of AI chatbots designed to provide safe, reliable, and context-aware conversational intelligence for businesses and institutions.
Technology partnerships
The Supercharged Sandbox operates in collaboration with additional technology partners, including NVIDIA, a major supplier of graphics processing units and AI chips, and NayaOne, a digital sandbox provider. These partners equip participant firms with computing resources and technical development environments necessary for rapid prototyping and testing.
Alongside the second cohort launch, the FCA introduced a 10-week Agentic Academy, developed in partnership with the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship. The academy is designed to help fintech companies advance their expertise in building and deploying AI agents within financial services.
The FCA highlighted that the Supercharged Sandbox is specifically aimed at firms exploring and experimenting with AI technology in its early development stages.
According to FCA representatives, the Agentic Academy will help bridge the gap between innovation and practical deployment by upskilling teams in AI agent design and oversight.
Expanding regulatory support for AI
While the Sandbox caters to those in the experimentation phase, the FCA runs a separate program—AI Live Testing—for companies ready to bring artificial intelligence technologies into live financial markets under direct regulatory supervision.
These efforts reflect the FCA’s broader commitment to facilitating responsible AI adoption in the UK financial sector, encouraging firms to innovate while prioritizing security, transparency, and regulatory compliance.
| FCA Program | Purpose | Target Stage |
|---|---|---|
| Supercharged Sandbox | Test and experiment with AI in a regulated environment | Discovery and experimentation |
| AI Live Testing | Deploy AI products in live markets under supervision | Implementation in production |
