Through the collaboration, firms will have the opportunity to experiment with artificial intelligence using Nvida accelerated computing and Nvida AI Enterprise Software.

The Supercharged Sandbox will give firms access to better data, technical expertise and regulatory support to speed up innovation.

This will be open to any financial services firm looking to innovate and experiment with AI.

An existing AI Live Testing service helps those further along in development and ready to use AI.

In its new strategy, the FCA has committed to supporting economic growth by enabling innovation and harnessing technological advances like AI.

FCA chief data, intelligence and information officer Jessica Rusu says: “This collaboration will help those that want to test AI ideas but who lack the capabilities to do so. We’ll help firms harness AI to benefit our markets and consumers, while supporting economic growth.”

Nvida EMEA head of financial technology Dr Jochen Papenbrock adds: “AI is fundamentally reshaping the financial sector by automating processes, enhancing data analysis, and improving decision-making, which leads to greater efficiency, accuracy, and risk management across a wide range of financial activities.”

“The FCA’s Supercharged Sandbox provides firms with a secure environment to explore AI innovations using Nvida’s full stack accelerated computing platform, supporting industry-wide growth and efficiency.”

The move came as Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the UK will commit an extra £1bn of funding to scale up the country’s computing power by a factor of 20.

As part of this, the chip giant will invest £185m in its Bristol lab to help the UK become an “AI maker, not an AI taker,” said Starmer in a speech kicking off London Tech Week this morning alongside Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang.

The Prime Minister added: “We’re also going to bring the full powers of government with a new tech-first training programme.

“That’s up to one million young people trained in tech skills—that will be so crucial for their future.”

Hargreaves Lansdown head of money and markets Susannah Streeter says: ‘’With going for growth set to be central to the government’s spending review, the Prime Minister is keen to build the UK’s reputation as a hub of AI activity.

“Nvidia, is the super-star chip global giant with a $3.46tr valuation, so its pledge to invest in the UK will be seen as a coup for the government.

“The deal reached will involve training more employees in the UK to use AI and expand research at universities, including the company’s own AI lab in Bristol.

“Bristol University is home to Isambard-AI, the UK’s most powerful supercomputer, designed for AI research and access to this ground-breaking technology is expected to help more AI innovations to progress.”

Last week, the FCA and the Information Commissioner’s Office announced they will draw up new rules on the use of AI across the financial services firms.