London, April 22, 2026, 14:12 (BST)
- The FCA included Barclays in its second AI Live Testing cohort.
- The bank rolled out a fresh Investment Readiness Index, designed to gauge how eager UK consumers are to invest.
- Lloyds, HSBC, and Barclays are stepping up their push into wealth and investment services with these latest moves.
Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority has tapped Barclays PLC to take part in a real-world test of artificial intelligence, giving the bank a front-row seat in a regulatory experiment as lenders push AI into areas like financial advice, payments, and compliance. Barclays joins a group of eight firms chosen for the FCA’s second AI Live Testing cohort—others on the roster: Lloyds Banking Group’s Scottish Widows, UBS, and Experian.
This comes at a crucial moment. UK banks want more of their savers to shift into investing—a strategy aimed at raising fee revenue just as the tailwind from wider deposit margins looks set to fade with declining rates. Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds have stepped up their bets on wealth management lately, according to Reuters, pumping more resources into the area while wrestling for business with specialist advisers and digital platforms.
On Tuesday, Barclays rolled out its Investment Readiness Index—this is a new biannual gauge of UK investment sentiment. The bank says the index blends Barclays’ own data, national consumer surveys, and economic modelling to assess both how ready UK consumers are to invest and how confident they feel about taking the plunge.
The FCA says its latest AI cohort will be putting a range of use cases through their paces, both for end customers and business clients. The lineup includes AI-driven “targeted support” for investment decisions, tools offering credit-score insights, agentic payments, anti-money laundering monitoring, and automated know-your-customer processes. “Targeted support” sits under a lighter regulatory regime than full-on financial advice, while agentic payments allow AI to execute customer instructions within preset boundaries. The testing window opens in April and wraps up by year-end. An evaluation report is on the calendar for the first quarter of 2027. FCA
Jessica Rusu, chief data, information and intelligence officer at the FCA, said in the statement, “We’re continuing to collaborate with firms to support the safe and responsible development of AI in UK financial markets.” Her comments underscored the regulator’s aim to demonstrate “how regulators and industry can work together to harness innovation responsibly.” FCA
Signs of competition are showing up fast. Lloyds told Reuters it’s testing an AI investment guidance tool via Scottish Widows. Over at HSBC, executives say they’re looking into AI for wealth management, keeping within the FCA’s rules. Chira Barua, who runs Scottish Widows, described Lloyds’ offering as “like a satnav for investments.” For HSBC, UK retail banking and wealth boss Jose Carvalho sees a chance for AI to help customers with £20,000 to £50,000 in liquid assets, including using ISAs, the UK’s tax-free accounts, to make their savings work harder. Reuters
The distinction between guidance and advice is key here. Reuters points out guidance stays broad and general; financial advice, on the other hand, gets personal and brings heavier regulatory requirements. The FCA has argued that targeted support could help millions make smarter choices. Its own figures put around 7 million UK adults with at least £10,000 in cash savings at risk of missing out on the upsides of investing over their lifetimes.
Still, the dangers loom large. According to experts who spoke to Reuters, AI tools might make errors worse, mis-sell products, or leave companies struggling to justify decisions if regulators or clients start asking questions. The FCA is digging into whether AI might tip the balance—potentially moving market power out of regulated firms’ hands and into those of tech giants that sit on the customer data and run the interfaces.
Barclays’ AI initiative and investment index are just part of the bigger picture for investors. Back in February, the bank posted a 12% jump in 2025 pretax profit, hitting 9.1 billion pounds, and upped its return on tangible equity goal to above 14% by 2028. Chief Executive C.S. Venkatakrishnan pledged the bank would deliver more than 15 billion pounds to shareholders from 2026 to 2028.
But relying just on lending won’t cut it—Barclays needs to find new revenue streams. The investment bank managed an 11% income boost for 2025, though investment-banking fees slipped 2%, which trailed what Wall Street delivered. Expanding wealth income could steady things, assuming they don’t let advice costs or compliance problems balloon. But if AI stumbles on conduct risk, that effort might just add a new headache.
