The UK's Financial Conduct Authority published a wide-ranging review of artificial intelligence in retail financial services today (Monday), the first of its kind commissioned by a financial regulator globally, the FCA said.

The report, led by FCA executive director Sheldon Mills and known as The Mills Review, concludes that AI is likely to reshape how firms operate, how consumers decide and how markets function by 2030. It does not recommend rushing to write new rules.

Regulator Leans on Existing Rulebook

Mills drew on 140 written submissions and a survey of more than 5,000 UK consumers. The review sets out four shifts it expects to reshape the sector, spanning firm operations, consumer journeys, competition and financial crime.

The timing is notable. A recent FM Intelligence analysis found at least ten brokers and platform vendors wired AI agents into live client accounts in the first half of 2026, with no regulator having written rules aimed at the practice.

Rather than propose AI-specific regulation Regulation Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Like any other industry with a high net worth, the financial services industry is tightly regulated to help curb illicit behavior and manipulation. Each asset class has its own set of protocols put in place to combat their respective forms of abuse.In the foreign exchange space, regulation is assumed by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, though ultimately lacking a binding international order. Who are the Industry’s Leading Regulators?Regulators such as the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority ( Read this Term, the report says the FCA's outcomes-based approach, built around the Consumer Duty and the Senior Managers Regime, provides the basis for the work ahead.

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"As autonomy grows, the nature of regulatory risk changes," Mills wrote.

Agent Boom Arrives Ahead of the Rulebook

The market did not wait for the review. In March, eToro began letting investors delegate trades to their own AI agents inside funded sub-accounts capped at set budgets, a feature it calls Agent Portfolios.

Robinhood followed with ring-fenced agent accounts for its funded customers, and moomoo added a tool that converts plain-English instructions into orders across five markets.

ThinkMarkets launched an agent named ChelseaAI that can place trades but not touch client funds.

Platform vendors joined too. Spotware opened the cTrader platform to agents through Model Context Protocol servers, and the crypto exchange Bybit rolled out walled AI trading accounts that keep bot activity separate from a client's main balance.

Most run on the same open plumbing, an Anthropic standard released in late 2024.

The review frames this delegation as a spectrum, with people moving from operators of AI tools to observers who set limits and monitor outcomes.

It notes that few parts of financial services will become fully autonomous, and that accountability grows harder to trace as systems act on their own.

Unregulated AI Advice Blurs the Perimeter

One finding lands directly on regulated brokers. The report says about 26% of consumers trust general-purpose tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini for financial advice, despite limited awareness that formal routes to recourse will not apply.

Roughly nine million UK adults already ask AI apps financial questions, and only around two in five correctly identify the protection they have when they do. The review warns this blurs the regulatory perimeter, since tools outside it can shape decisions without oversight.

For firms inside the perimeter, that raises a fairness question the FCA flagged earlier in its first technology horizon scan.

Regulated brokers carry obligations Obligations In finance, an obligation is a financial responsibility where the terms of a contract must be met. Should an obligation between parties fail then the party who is at default may face legal action. In this scenario, the guilty party will not only have to agree to pay the set amount to fulfill the contractual arrangement but may also be responsible for covering all legal proceedings cost. Routine payments or outstanding debt of any kind are considered financial obligations, so if someone owes you In finance, an obligation is a financial responsibility where the terms of a contract must be met. Should an obligation between parties fail then the party who is at default may face legal action. In this scenario, the guilty party will not only have to agree to pay the set amount to fulfill the contractual arrangement but may also be responsible for covering all legal proceedings cost. Routine payments or outstanding debt of any kind are considered financial obligations, so if someone owes you Read this Term on promotions, advice and consumer outcomes, while AI platforms exert similar influence through a different route.

Control of the Interface Becomes the Prize

The competition section may unsettle intermediaries most. The report says whoever controls the AI-mediated customer interface could gain significant market power, and that delegation may relocate intermediation rather than remove it, shifting it from brokers and comparison sites toward agents and platforms.

It also warns that AI comparison could appear to search the whole market while returning a narrower set shaped by commercial deals. Industry figures have made similar points, with some arguing the agent could become the primary distribution layer between traders and the market.

Fraud and System Risk Move Up the Agenda

FCA Chairman Ashley Alder said the board would consider the recommendations, adding the regulator must "keep pace with a rapidly changing environment."

The fourth shift covers financial crime. The review says AI will make fraud faster, cheaper and more convincing through deepfakes and synthetic identities, and that consumers who delegate to agents may stop challenging decisions made for them.

It also flags system-level risk, warning that shared reliance on a few models and providers could produce herding and common points of failure.

In response the FCA proposes an AI-enabled supervisory model and seven priority recommendations, building on earlier work such as its AI partnership with Singapore's monetary authority.