meta_id 3327042

On July 14, 2026, HM Treasury published an independent artificial intelligence (AI) adoption plan for the United Kingdom's financial services sector, developed by the government's AI Champions for financial services, Harriet Rees (Group Chief Information Officer, Starling Bank) and Dr Rohit Dhawan (Head of AI and Advanced Analytics, Lloyds Banking Group). The adoption plan identifies barriers to AI adoption and provides recommendations to accelerate safe AI adoption and innovation across the financial services sector. The Champions engaged extensively with industry stakeholders to inform their conclusions and worked with government and regulators to develop their recommendations. The plan contains ten recommendations spanning regulatory framework considerations, AI-powered financial advice and the regulatory perimeter, resilience, skills and talent, and agentic payments. The recommendations are directed at industry, government, and the financial services regulators. HM Treasury welcomed the adoption plan and accepted the recommendations directed at government. The government committed to working with regulators and industry on next steps to implement the recommendations. This work will be considered alongside other relevant developments, including the Mills Review—a report by Sheldon Mills, the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Executive Director for Consumers and Competition. The Mills Review examines how AI could reshape retail financial services by 2030 and beyond and provides priority recommendations to the FCA on how it could respond to these developments. The adoption plan represents a coordinated effort to establish a framework supporting responsible AI innovation in UK financial services while maintaining consumer protection and market stability.