The race is on to tackle the challenges associated with the coronavirus pandemic – and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is ready to offer its support.
The regulator has opened up application windows for two ‘sandbox’ services – Cohort 7 of the Regulatory Sandbox and the pilot of a new Digital Sandbox Initiative. The idea is that they will focus on supporting customers and firms impacted by the pandemic.
In a statement, the FCA outlined that it will have three key focus areas – preventing scams and fraud; improving access to finance for SMEs; and support vulnerable customers with their financial resilience. Cohort 7 is open to authorised and unauthorised firms, as well as technology businesses that are looking to deliver innovation in the UK financial services market – meaning that insurtech firms may be a good fit. Meanwhile, the Digital Sandbox pilot has been launched alongside the City of London Corporation and looks to support early stage innovation.
“The FCA is a strong believer in the positive power of innovation,” said FCA director of innovation Nick Cook. “Today we are strengthening the range and scale of support we are providing to innovative firms to deal with the challenges raised by the pandemic.
“Together, these services will allow us to support a wider spectrum of innovative firms, from early stage proof of concept development in the digital sandbox, to testing new products or services with consumers in the regulatory sandbox.
“As a regulator we recognise the need to continually experiment and learn in order to stimulate innovation. We are excited to launch this new service and by the lessons it will provide for future iterations of the initiative.”
