FCA chief calls for data and technology investment to protect financial markets

The Financial Conduct Authority will make greater use of technology and intelligence to identify and address system-wide risks and financial crime, its chief executive said on 22 October 2026. Nikhil Rathi delivered the commitment at Mansion House, arguing that the UK’s financial-services strength provides a platform for technology-driven growth — but only if effective oversight keeps pace with it.

Rathi’s speech set out three broad priorities: investing in data and technology, using the FCA’s existing powers more assertively, and building partnerships to maintain market integrity. No specific new legislation or binding regulatory rule was announced.

The speech isn’t the first time Rathi has raised these themes from the same stage. In a 2022 Mansion House address, he said the FCA was already investing in technological solutions and examining the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence in regulation. The 2026 address suggests that agenda has sharpened rather than shifted.

The FCA has previously flagged concerns about the growing role of technology firms across payments, deposits, insurance, consumer credit and third-party services — areas where rapid change can outrun existing oversight frameworks. Relevant risks the regulator has discussed include market abuse, operational resilience, cryptoassets, distributed-ledger technology, cloud infrastructure and algorithmic trading.

That’s a broad list. And it reflects a genuine tension: the same technologies that may improve efficiency and UK competitiveness also create new points of failure, raise questions about accountability, and complicate financial-crime controls.

The FCA’s position, as the figures from its own communications show, is that technological progress and effective oversight aren’t in conflict — but getting that balance right will depend on whether the regulator’s data capabilities can match the pace of the markets it watches.