The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority published their fourth survey of artificial intelligence in UK financial services on 26 October. Of the 196 firms that responded, 86% said they use AI, up from 75% in 2024 and 58% in 2022. Most figures in the report come from the 105 firms that completed the full questionnaire.
Generative AI now makes up 56% of the AI systems firms reported. AI agents are common but tightly limited: 80% of respondents have agents in production that recommend actions for people to decide on and carry out, and only 2% have deployed agents with broad autonomy.
Firms are leaning more on outside suppliers. Third-party systems account for 39% of all AI systems and 53% of those firms rate as high materiality. The three largest cloud and compute providers account for 79% of reported relationships, and the three largest model providers for about 54%.
Firms rate data protection and security as their biggest current AI risk. The share rating dependence on critical third parties as high or severe rises from 40% today to 63% looking three years ahead, and cyber risk is the top expected risk to the wider system.
The regulators caution that changes in who answered and how questions were asked limit comparisons with earlier surveys.
Source: Bank of England and FCA, Artificial intelligence in UK financial services 2026