Anthropic will support the second cohort of firms taking part in the UK Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Supercharged Sandbox, providing access to its Claude AI models to help organisations develop and test AI applications.

Anthropic said the sandbox offers firms a controlled environment where they can safely experiment with advanced AI technologies. Anthropic will provide participants with access to Claude, including Claude Code and Claude Cowork, to support software development and AI experimentation.

The FCA said 21 organisations had been selected for the latest cohort, including Scottish Widows, Money Advice Trust, and TrueLayer. Demand for the programme increased significantly, with applications rising by 51 per cent compared with the first round.

The second group will explore a range of AI use cases, including safer agent-led payments and commerce, fraud and financial crime detection, AI governance and accountability, improving access to financial services for vulnerable and underserved customers, and automating compliance and business processes.

The Supercharged Sandbox was launched by the FCA in 2025 to help firms in the early stages of AI development. It builds on its Digital Sandbox infrastructure, provided by software company NayaOne, and offers access to advanced computing resources.

A sandbox is an isolated virtual machine which allows developers to test software in an environment similar to a live one without the risk of affecting existing products or services.

Through a partnership with Nvidia, participants in the second cohort will have access to accelerated computing infrastructure and AI Enterprise software to support the development and testing of AI applications.

The FCA received 199 applications for the second Supercharged Sandbox, up from 132 for the initial programme.

Jessica Rusu, chief data, intelligence, and information officer at the FCA, said the level of interest highlighted the demand for trusted environments where firms can experiment with AI safely.

“With the support of Anthropic, participants will benefit from the technology they need to accelerate innovation,” she said. “This is central to our commitment to supporting economic growth – enabling firms to make the most of technological advances while maintaining the UK's position at the forefront of responsible AI adoption and innovation.”

The FCA also announced the launch of the Agentic Academy, a new 10-week AI programme delivered with the Centre for Finance, Technology and Entrepreneurship. The initiative will provide selected firms with specialist training in agentic AI.

In April, the FCA announced it had selected eight firms including Barclays, Experian, Lloyds Banking Group and UBS to join the second cohort of its AI Live Testing programme.

The initiative will see participants test artificial intelligence applications under regulatory oversight, focusing on risk management and live monitoring. The regulator is working with London-based AI assurance specialist Advai to support firms in deploying systems safely across financial markets.

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