The FCA says AI is becoming a trusted source of financial information for younger consumers: 56% of surveyed investors aged 18 to 40 said they trust AI tools, while four in five less experienced investors had used AI for investment help. Crucially, 44% mistakenly believed AI-generated financial information is regulated, and 32% thought compensation may be available if AI-led guidance went wrong.
The research concerns investing, but its implications extend directly to mortgage and protection advice. Clients may increasingly arrive with AI-generated affordability assumptions, rate forecasts or product comparisons. General-purpose chatbots are not regulated financial advisers; firms should make clear where education ends and regulated advice begins, particularly where a client is making a borrowing decision.
- AI use case: Deploy AI for plain-English explanations, call-note drafting and document triage, with approved source material and adviser sign-off.
- Control: Maintain audit trails, verify sources and prohibit unsupervised AI outputs from determining suitability or being presented as personalised advice.