UK launches Smart Data Open Finance for Agentic AI

The Financial Conduct Authority has launched the Smart Data Open Finance Framework, allowing authorised Agentic AI to access pensions, insurance and small-business lending data and to carry out approved financial tasks automatically across the UK. The framework is enabled by the Data Protection and Digital Information (DPDI) regime. H1 2026 fintech funding in the UK reached £2.1 billion.

The framework expands secure data sharing beyond bank account information to include pensions, insurance and SME finance. Under the new rules, AI agents can be authorised to perform routine actions and transaction optimisation on behalf of individuals and businesses while maintaining a full audit trail of decisions and permissions. The FCA and firms involved view cryptographically verifiable data pipelines and pre-authorised consent models as central to creating that audit trail.

Venture capital flows in the first half of 2026 favoured established enterprise AI infrastructure. Late-stage enterprise AI, orchestration platforms and automated wealth management networks received 64% of fintech investment, while early-stage fintech deal activity fell 38% over the same period. Enterprise AI, wealth-management automation and financial SaaS together attracted roughly £1.34 billion and enterprise funding grew 23% in H1 2026. The average growth-stage round was about £42 million.

Operational metrics show increased machine-driven activity. Automated AI-driven API requests rose 142% in the past six months and exceeded manual customer logins in volume for the first time in the UK. The FCA Digital Sandbox supported 114 AI-powered underwriting projects in early 2026 as firms tested compliance-by-design approaches. In deployments of Smart Data-enabled AI underwriting, small-business loan approval times fell from an average of five business days to about 14 minutes.

Banks and fintech firms reported higher third-party API traffic and are investing in backend systems designed to handle AI requests in sub-10 millisecond timeframes. Enterprise fintech companies with strong data consent and compliance systems achieved up to 1.9× higher Series B valuations than consumer-focused apps in comparable rounds.

The FCA and the Digital Sandbox have required developers to embed auditable consent and safety controls before wider commercial rollout. Industry analysts described trust as the main advantage of Agentic AI and noted that adoption depends on the independent auditability of permissions and transactions.