On 1 April 2026 Sarah Breeden and Sam Woods answered the government's 28 January 2026 request with the Bank of England and PRA's plan for enabling safe AI innovation. The plan is to keep regulation technology-agnostic and outcomes-focused, build on SS1/23 in 2026, treat AI adoption as a PRA supervisory priority, run the fourth BoE/FCA AI survey, publish an AI Consortium report, repeat sector roundtables, and report annually. Roundtable participants told the PRA they saw no need yet for detailed AI-specific rules or a PRA sandbox, viewing the FCA's Supercharged Sandbox and AI Live Testing as sufficient.
| Document | BoE/PRA plan for safe AI innovation (Apr 2026) — Letter from Sarah Breeden and Sam Woods to the Chancellor and Secretaries of State on enabling safe AI innovation |
| Issued by | Bank of England, Prudential Regulation Authority, and Financial Conduct Authority |
| Type | Letter |
| Status | Final |
| Published | Apr 1, 2026 |
| Applies to | Statement of the Bank of England and PRA's approach; relevant to all PRA-regulated firms |
| Official source | bankofengland.co.uk ↗ |
| Use cases | AI governance (general) · Model risk management · Generative & agentic AI · Third-party & vendor AI |
What are the key points of BoE/PRA plan for safe AI innovation (Apr 2026)?
- Responds to the 28 January 2026 letter from the Chancellor and the DSIT and DBT Secretaries of State.
- Commits to a plan and timeline in the first half of 2026 and to annual reporting on how regulation enables AI-driven growth.
- Late-2025 roundtables with challenger and UK banks, G-SIBs and insurers: industry supports the existing PRA framework; most saw no need yet for AI-specific guidance or a PRA sandbox.
- PRA to build further on SS1/23 in 2026; AI adoption a 2026 supervisory priority.
- International work: FSB sound practices on AI (chaired by Governor Bailey), IAIS AI workstreams co-chaired by the PRA, G7 cyber expert group, AI Security Institute and DRCF collaboration.
- Bank's own AI use: predictive analytics, AI assistants, and PRA exploration of LLMs for supervisory data extraction.
What did BoE/PRA plan for safe AI innovation (Apr 2026) change for banks?
Together with the same-day TSC response, this is the UK prudential regulators' formal 2026 AI plan. It confirms there will be no PRA AI sandbox and no AI rulebook, and that the pressure to move faster on AI will be met through SS1/23 enhancements and supervisory dialogue rather than new rules.
Will the PRA launch an AI sandbox?
No. In its 1 April 2026 letter the PRA said most roundtable participants saw no case for a Bank or PRA sandbox, with the FCA's Supercharged Sandbox and AI Live Testing seen as sufficient.
| Date | Document | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Jul 14, 2026 | HM Treasury Financial Services AI Adoption Plan (Jul 2026) — Financial Services AI Adoption Plan | Final |
| Jun 5, 2026 | 2026 BoE/FCA AI survey — The Bank of England and FCA's 2026 AI Survey | Final |
| May 15, 2026 | BoE/FCA/HMT joint statement on frontier AI and cyber resilience (May 2026) — The Bank, FCA and HM Treasury joint statement on Frontier AI models and cyber resilience | In force |
| Apr 1, 2026 | BoE response to Treasury Committee AI inquiry (Apr 2026) — Response to TSC inquiry report on AI in financial services | Final |
| Jan 28, 2026 | DSIT/DBT strategic letters to regulators (Jan 2026) — How will regulators enable safe AI-powered innovation: joint letter from DSIT Secretary of State and DBT Secretary of State | Final |
| Nov 24, 2025 | PRA AI/ML model-risk roundtable (Nov 2025) — The PRA holds model risk management roundtable on artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies | Final |
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