The Pulse
FCA Urges AI Platforms to Warn Users About Financial Advice
The UK Financial Conduct Authority is calling on AI providers to give clear, consistent warnings when their tools deliver financial information or advice. Jessica Rusu says many investors use general-purpose AI for investing but do not unde
AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked ·
Warnings belong where the advice appears
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority wants AI providers to put clear warnings beside financial information generated by their models, rather than leave consumers to discover the limits later. The call, delivered on 19 October by Jessica Rusu, the FCA’s chief data, information and intelligence officer, addresses a growing gap: general-purpose chatbots can discuss money, but consumers may mistake their answers for regulated advice.
Rusu said AI tools can widen access to financial information while blurring the line between regulated and unregulated services. “But warnings may be more effective at the point where AI-generated financial information is delivered,” she said. The FCA is asking providers for disclaimers that are “clear, proportionate and consistent.”
The speech does not announce a new rule or set a deadline for providers. It calls for industry action to explain the limits of AI-generated financial information and advice, as the regulator seeks to make existing protections easier for consumers to understand.
Use is outpacing understanding of protections
Rusu said four in five less-experienced investors aged 18 to 40 have used AI to help with investing. She also said only 40% of consumers correctly recognize that they have no recourse if something goes wrong after they act on advice from a general-purpose AI tool. The speech does not specify whether that second figure refers to the same group as the first.
The FCA’s concern is not simply that AI might produce inaccurate information. A consumer may also misunderstand who is responsible when they act on it, or assume they have access to the safeguards available through regulated advice. The regulator says InvestSmart and its Firm Checker already help people understand protections, but wants warnings to appear when AI delivers the financial information itself.
The FCA distinguishes chatbots from advice products
The regulator draws a distinction between general-purpose chatbots and tools specifically built to provide financial advice. In an FCA publication on AI and financial services, it says firms remain responsible for consumer outcomes when they use AI in their products, services, communications or support. That guidance also says firms should explain what an AI tool can and cannot do, and when a consumer should seek help elsewhere.
The FCA’s separate guidance for regulated firms sets out examples of good and poor practice drawn from supervisory work and industry engagement. It says the examples are illustrative, do not create new requirements and do not replace firms’ responsibility to assess their own AI use. The regulator describes practices such as testing consumer understanding, keeping human escalation routes and monitoring outcomes after deployment.
Warnings sit alongside wider AI oversight
Rusu said the FCA is embedding six of the seven recommendations from its Mills Review into current work, focusing on testing, assurance, monitoring and supervision. The speech also describes plans to work with industry, other regulators and AI labs on a framework for more autonomous financial systems, including questions of identity, delegated authority and accountability.
The FCA’s immediate request is narrower: tell users when AI-generated financial information has limits, and make the warning visible where it can affect a decision. Rusu’s speech was published as a draft and the FCA notes that it may differ from the version delivered at Bloomberg’s UK Policy Series.