13 Firms Accepted into Cohort 7 of FCA Regulatory Sandbox

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that it has accepted 13 firms into cohort 7 of the regulatory sandbox to test innovative products and services.

The regulator received a total of 58 applications from firms operating in the UK and overseas. The majority of applications for the cohort came from firms in the retail investments and retail lending sectors.

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In the wider context of Covid-19, the FCA was interested in seeing more innovation and testing from firms developing businesses, products or services intended to detect fraud and scams, support the financial resilience of vulnerable consumers, or improve access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Firms that have been accepted to test in the regulatory sandbox include Bayfikr, Blockpass, Cardeo, Chekk, Hlthie, JO1N, Kontinuous, Project Endeavour, StarLiX, TrustElevate, VALK and CMS, Willow Money, Yonder.

The regulatory sandbox is currently run on a cohort basis, with periodic application windows opened throughout the year. The FCA intends to move to ‘Always Open’ later in 2021, making the regulatory sandbox available throughout the year. In doing so the UK watchdog will also expand and clarify the scope of qualifying propositions to ensure that it supports firms and sandbox tests which will lead to tangible benefits for consumers and markets. 

According to the FCA’s announcement, tests in the regulatory sandbox will be conducted on a short-term and small-scale basis. The FCA will work closely with each firm to agree testing parameters and build in appropriate safeguards.