The regulator has widened the scope of its new advice unit, part of its Innovation Hub, to begin assisting firms in the mortgage, general insurance and debt sectors.
The FCA will also work with fintech firms looking to provide financial guidance in an automated fashion, rather than simply regulated advice providers.
The firms will join the investment, pension and protection firms that already receive robo-advice input from the FCA.
The move may be seen as a sign that the FCA is throwing its full weight behind robo-advice as a solution to the nation’s advice needs, contrary to concerns it provides insufficient levels of service.
Elsewhere, the regulator is also ramping up its ‘regulatory sandbox’ programme that enables firms to test innovative new products outside of usual regulatory requirements.
The firm has accepted 31 new requests to join the sandbox – doubling its size.
The changes were announced by Christopher Woolard, FCA executive director of strategy and competition, in a speech to the Innovate Finance Global Summit on Monday afternoon.
He said the FCA was “committed to leading the charge” in FinTech innovation.
Established in 2014, ‘Project Innovate’ saw the creation of the Innovation Hub and advice unit with the aim of “encouraging innovation in financial services in the interests of consumers”.
The FCA launched a regulatory sandbox in 2016 where firms could test out their innovative ideas without the immediate regulatory costs and Woolard said the popularity of the service had not been dampened by Brexit.
In the nine months prior to the referendum the sandbox received 264 requests for support, and in the nine months after the referendum received 321 requests, Woolard said.
“The fact is we are working more deeply with innovators than this time last year.”
He added: “I can announce that we will be accepting 31 of these applications to progress towards testing, nearly double the number of firms currently testing in our first cohort.”
The regulator will also reach out to regional FinTech hubs, Woolard said.
Firms based in the Edinburgh-Glasgow corridor and in the Leeds-Manchester area have been earmarked for support as ‘emerging hubs’ for FinTech solutions.
The FCA will work with local authorities and development partners to support innovation in both areas.
