---
title: AI Agents Come to Financial Services – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
description: An AI agent set up a Direct Debit mid-chat. Niels and Matt ask who that is ready for, and whether the UK can regulate AI it needs US permission to test.
---

[Podcast Listings](https://aiintheuk.com/blog)

# [AI Agents Come to Financial Services – What Could Possibly Go Wrong?](https://aiintheuk.com/blog/ai-agents-come-to-financial-services-what-could-possibly-go-wrong-1)

 Written by [Matt](https://aiintheuk.com/blog/author/matt) | Sep 30, 2026, 7:28:33 PM

GoCardless made what it says is the UK's first live agentic bank payment this month, processed inside the FCA's AI Live Testing programme. Meanwhile, assorted techies, bankers and regulators did battle in Cambridge to create agentic solutions to scams, misinformation and other financial headaches. But is the UK's financial-services sector even remotely ready for the agentic age? 

Can Britain regulate effectively if it can only test frontier AI with Washington's permission? The White House blocked the UK AI Security Institute from accessing Anthropic's Claude Mythos 5.1 before release, and a parliamentary committee responded by calling for a dedicated AI bill, a single regulator and statutory pre-release review powers. We picked apart who is actually behind these campaigns, and whether binding UK rules could ever reach beyond our borders.

[Listen to the full episode](https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/niels-footman/episodes/AI-Agents-Come-to-Financial-Services--What-Could-Possibly-Go-Wrong-e3pi7re)

## Also this week

**Anthropic and Nvidia back London's Basecamp Research in $140m raise**: Two of AI's biggest names co-invest in a UK biodiversity-data drug discovery firm. [Read more](https://tech.eu/2026/09/23/anthropic-and-nvidia-back-basecamp-research-in-140m-series-c)

**ICO edtech findings land**: UK data regulator finds some edtech providers switched AI features on by default without adequate safeguards. [Read more](https://www.freeths.co.uk/insights-events/legal-articles/2026/ico-publishes-findings-on-data-protection-practices-in-edtech-sector)

**Open University: AI is changing how UK employers hire**: 51% of 1,500 business leaders surveyed say AI is shifting recruitment, with 19% cutting entry-level roles. [Read more](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/23/ai-workplace-graduate-entry-level-junior-hiring.html)

**MPs summon OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind and Meta**: The four biggest labs face a 13 October committee hearing on whether pre-release safety testing should be legally mandatory. [Read more](https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/meta-google-openai-and-anthropic-to-face-mps-amid-ai-safety-concerns-5Hjdhns_2/)

**AI now drives the majority of UK first-time investment**: AI companies took 58.6% of first-time equity value in H1 2026, and more rounds are completing outside London than inside it. [Read more](https://www.penningtonslaw.com/news/new-report-uk-first-time-investment-rallies-and-spreads-beyond-london-as-ai-powers-uk-funding-recovery/)

[View full post](https://aiintheuk.com/blog/ai-agents-come-to-financial-services-what-could-possibly-go-wrong-1)

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