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FCA adds Anthropic
The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) partnered with Anthropic for the second phase of its AI-testing programme, the Supercharged Sandbox, to let firms test AI solutions for financial services in a controlled environment.
“The FCA said Wednesday it received 199 applications for the latest group, up 51% from the first round”
Anthropic will provide access to Claude for participants, including Claude Code and Claude Cowork, as the second cohort develops applications ranging from agent-led payments and fraud detection to compliance automation and AI governance.
The FCA said Wednesday it received 199 applications for the latest group, up 51% from the first round, reflecting growing demand for regulated environments where financial firms can experiment with AI systems.
The programme builds on the FCA’s partnerships with NVIDIA and NayaOne, which provide participants with computing infrastructure and development tools.
Alongside the second cohort, the regulator launched a 10-week Agentic Academy with the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship to help firms develop and deploy AI agents in financial services.
Cohort goals and access
The FCA described the Supercharged Sandbox as a controlled environment where firms can safely experiment with advanced AI, with Anthropic support focused on speeding up development work.
According to the FCA, the second group of 21 organizations will explore AI use cases including testing solutions designed to enable safer agent-led payments and commerce and detect fraud and economic crime more effectively.
The sandbox support is also intended to strengthen AI governance and accountability, widen access to financial services for vulnerable and underserved consumers, and streamline compliance and business automation.
FCA chief data, intelligence and information officer Jessica Rusu said: "The high level of interest in the Supercharged Sandbox demonstrates the demand for trusted environments where firms can experiment safely and responsibly."
Rusu added: "With the support of Anthropic, participants will benefit from the technology they need to accelerate innovation."
Regulatory framing and scale
The FCA’s Supercharged Sandbox second cohort includes 21 organizations such as Scottish Widows, Money Advice Trust and TrueLayer, and the regulator said all accepted entities gain access to Claude Code and Claude Cowork.
“The FCA stated that all accepted entities will gain access to Claude Code and Claude Cowork”
Cryptonews.net said the second cohort includes 21 organizations, among them Scottish Widows, Money Advice Trust and TrueLayer, while Crowdfund Insider listed additional accepted firms including calQrisk and Trustie Labs.
Money Marketing reported that the programme received 199 applications, up 51% from the 132 applications submitted for the first cohort, tying the expansion to demand for controlled testing environments.
The FCA said the Supercharged Sandbox was launched in 2025 to help firms safely experiment with AI during the discovery and development phase, and it builds on the FCA’s Digital Sandbox infrastructure provided by NayaOne.
The FCA also said the initiative continues to offer participants access to NVIDIA’s AI computing infrastructure and enterprise software, with Anthropic described as the latest technology partner to join the initiative.