Out-Law News 1 min. read
UK Treasury Committee challenges industry giants over AI for financial services roles
The letters to tech and AI firms came from the Treasury Committee. Photo: Getty Images
19 Sep 2025, 11:11 am
Six major technology firms have been challenged on their role in the use of AI in the UK’s financial services sector by the head of the House of Commons’ Treasury Committee.
Dame Meg Hillier has written to Microsoft, Meta, Google, Amazon and AI companies Anthropic and OpenAI as part of the committee’s inquiry into AI usage in financial services.
The committee announced earlier this year it would be launching a wide-range inquiry into the increasing role artificial intelligence systems are playing in the financial services sector, including in banking and pensions.
Hillier’s letter asks 12 questions of each representative from the major technology players: covering general areas such as predicted impact in the sector and recommendations for regulation in the UK; to more targeted interrogation, including asking if the companies have specific strategies for using AI systems in financial services, transparency methods, and risk mitigation.
It also asks the companies to explain their interactions with the Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) over the issue of artificial intelligence, challenging them to explain the impact it would have if their company was designated critical to the UK economy.
This comes after the Bank and the FCA previously told the committee certain AI providers could be designated 'critical third parties' by the Treasury.
The companies have been given until the beginning of October to respond.
Not all technology companies have been asked the same questions. The committee has recognised that cloud infrastructure providers are central to the development of AI in financial services and therefore included a targeted set off questions for the leading providers which differ from those which focus primarily on AI models.
Luke Scanlon, head of fintech propositions at Pinsent Masons, said: “It is a positive step for the committee to be considering both cloud infrastructure and AI model providers as part of this inquiry. It is moving the conversation beyond generic AI risks to a more risk-based approach which aligns with the FCA and PRA approaches so far. For the providers which operate across both cloud and models, this provides a welcome opportunity to demonstrate end-to-end responsible innovation and robust operational resilience”.
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