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July 6, 2026
The FCA has announced the publication of what it describes as a “landmark review into impact of AI on retail financial services”. Led by FCA Executive Director Sheldon Mills and commissioned by the FCA Board, ‘The Mills Review’ is the first work of its kind initiated by a regulator globally. As part of The Mills Review, in April 2026, Yonder Consulting conducted a survey of more than 5,000 UK retail financial services consumers (PDF), defined as individuals holding a day-to-day bank account, such as a current or savings account. The review (147 pages) and the survey report (45 pages) are lengthy and detailed.
The report identifies four perhaps predictable major AI‑driven shifts likely to impact retail financial services:
- The transformation of firm operations.
- The evolution of consumer journeys.
- The reshaping of competition and market power.
- The amplification of fraud and cyber risks.
The key findings are:
- Retail financial services are moving from human-led, towards AI-enabled, continuous, and delegated services.
- AI could reshape the sector by 2030 – changing how firms operate, consumers make decisions, markets compete and risks emerge.
- AI could improve outcomes and support growth by reducing friction and tackling long-standing challenges, such as advice gaps, low switching, and protection gaps. But it could also amplify risks associated with fraud, cyber security and consumer harm.
- Consumer adoption will depend on trust, control and access – even though 1 in 5 UK adults are already open to AI making decisions for them.
The review also outlines seven recommendations for the FCA Board and Executive to consider, which are:
- Secure and adapt the regulatory perimeter.
- Strengthen system-wide coordination and oversight.
- Monitor the transition to autonomous models and adapt regulatory frameworks.
- Scale up the FCA’s AI Lab to support AI models and system innovation in financial services.
- Enable the foundations for agentic finance.
- Build and adopt an AI-enabled agentic supervisory model.
- Develop a trusted public-interest AI-enabled financial capability service.
Running in parallel to this work, the FCA will launch an AI good and poor practice publication later this year. As part of this work, the regulator has engaged directly with firms to find out what is working well, where firms are facing challenges, and where further clarity would help. Find out more on how the FCA is engaging with firms to help shape its approach to AI.
