The FCA's eagerly-awaited review on the impact of AI on financial services, The Mills Review - published today - warns that despite the benefits many consumers are concerned about the risks of AI (artificial intelligence).
The 'landmark' review forecasts that AI will potentially revolutionise financial services, transforming how customers are served.
According to the review, AI could, "reshape retail financial services for consumers, firms, markets and regulators by 2030 and beyond."
The review, which included a survey of 5,000 consumers, has been led by FCA executive director Sheldon Mills and was commissioned by the FCA board. The FCA says it believes it's the first review of its type commissioned globally.
The report identifies 4 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 report suggests there is already a consumer appetite for the use of agentic AI in personal finance. Agentic AI involves AI acting autonomously and taking several decisions at a time.
Research for the review found that a fifth of people – about 11m UK adults – are likely to use AI that can act autonomously within pre-set goals. However, consumers surveyed for the review were, "concerned about trust and control of AI."
The Review concluded that AI was likely to become a "defining force" in retail financial services, transforming how firms operate, how consumers make financial decisions and how markets function.
The Review also concluded that AI could increase the risk of "fraud, cyber security, consumer harm and market concentration."
FCA executive director Sheldon Mills said: "Artificial intelligence will transform financial services by 2030. It creates significant opportunities for consumers, firms and the wider economy. This report sets out a roadmap for how industry regulators and government can prepare for the next phase of AI-driven change in our world-leading financial services sector."
Key recommendations from the Mills Review:
The Mills Review outlines 7 recommendations for the FCA board and executive to consider:
1. Secure and adapt the regulatory perimeter
2. Strengthen system-wide co-ordination and oversight
3. Monitor the transition to autonomous models and adapt regulatory frameworks
4. Scale up the FCA's AI Lab to support AI models and system innovation in financial services
5. Enable the foundations for agentic finance
6. Build and adopt an AI-enabled agentic supervisory model
7. Develop a trusted public-interest, AI-enabled financial capability service
In a response from the FCA, Ashley Alder, chair of the FCA, said: "The board is enormously grateful to Sheldon for the rich, comprehensive report he’s delivered. His work anticipates the fundamental change agentic AI will bring to financial services. It highlights how consumers and firms can reap significant potential benefits as well how risks can be managed.
"As is clear in the report, we need to keep pace with a rapidly changing environment and the principles-based, outcomes focussed approach we’ve taken on AI – relying on the Consumer Duty and Senior Managers Regime – has been critical to us doing so. The recommendations build on work the FCA has been doing – not least allowing firms to test their use of AI with us – and our own use of AI to be a smarter regulator, more efficient and effective."
The Review was led by Sheldon Mills and builds on the FCA’s existing work on AI. This includes its AI Discussion Paper, AI Sprint, and AI Lab including AI Live Testing and its 'Supercharged Sandbox' supported by NVIDIA.
Running in parallel to the review, the FCA plans to launch an AI good and poor practice publication later this year.
• 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.
Financial Planning Today Analysis: The Mills Review is a wake up call for many in the sector. It suggest that AI, particularly agentic AI, is about to transform all parts of the financial services sector over the next five years. This will lead to innovation, efficiencies and new ways of serving consumers however it's not without risk, as Sheldon Mills rightly points out. AI could create major new fraud and poor practice risks. The review is as much for the benefit of the FCA, which needs to adapt to the changes and needs a roadmap, as it is for the financial services sector. The Review will damped some of the AI 'fever' that's been around and introduce a welcome note of caution. There are potentially huge benefits from AI but it may come with some cost of consumer detriment which needs to be avoided. AI is an innovative technology, like many others we've seen in the past, but it's value must be carefully unlocked.