The Financial Conduct Authority and the City of London Corporation are to pilot a digital sandbox initiative to help support firms tackling pandemic-related challenges such as preventing fraud and scams, supporting vulnerable customers, and improving access to finance for SMEs.

Aimed at large financial institutions and start-ups looking to play a visible role in the recovery from the pandemic, the digital testing environment will provide data sets to allow for the testing and validation of technology solutions.

The fintech initiative is launched as part of the FCA’s Innovate, Regulatory Sandbox and TechSprint programmes.

Interim CEO at the FCA, Christopher Woolard said: "Innovation is a powerful driver of effective competition and can help to accelerate the development of new solutions to emerging challenges.

"Building on our existing work supporting innovation in the market, we are now helping to establish a platform to tackle the challenges that will face the financial services sector in the recovery from COVID-19. We look forward to working with the City of London on this important initiative."

City of London Corporation policy chair, Catherine McGuinness said: "The UK has long been a world leader in fintech, fuelled by our innovative spirit, our creative energy, and our regulatory approach. That has borne fruit during this difficult period, during which we’ve seen accelerated demand for digitisation.

"As we look towards recovery, it’s therefore vital that we continue to support innovation, and this digital testing environment provides us with the opportunity to do just that.

"The City of London Corporation is committed to working alongside the FCA to build the digital sandbox and ensuring that the financial services sector fulfils its potential as a vital part of our future economic success."

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