Accountants — Does the FCA's new AI review change how you should use these tools with clients?

The FCA has put artificial intelligence in financial services on the regulatory clock — and for everyone else, a thin news week is the best argument you'll get to squeeze more out of tools you're already paying for.

Accountants — Does the FCA's new AI review change how you should use these tools with clients?

The FCA published its Mills Review this week — the first AI-in-financial-services report from any regulator globally, led by FCA executive director Sheldon Mills. If your practice is FCA-authorised, or your clients are, treat this as the signal: formal guidance on AI use with client data is coming, likely within 18 months. The practical step today is simple — start a one-page log of which AI tools your practice uses and what client data, if any, enters them. If you're using ChatGPT to draft client summaries or prepare correspondence, that data is likely going to US servers; worth documenting now before a regulator or a cautious client asks.

Trades — Is your phone costing you jobs while you're on site?

Nothing new landed specifically for plumbers, electricians, or builders this week — which makes it a good moment to tackle the oldest problem in trades: the missed call while you're up a ladder. AI receptionist tools like Synthflow and Polly handle out-of-hours enquiries, capture the lead's name and job type, and send you a summary to follow up. You set it up once and it runs while you work. If a competitor is picking up the phone you missed, this week is the right time to look at it.

Retail & Hospitality — Are you leaving 90% of your ChatGPT subscription on the table?

Nothing new for shops, cafés, or salons this week — but this is the week to build one saved prompt for a task you repeat more than three times a week. A café owner might draft one for responding to one-star Google reviews without sounding defensive. A salon might use ChatGPT to write booking confirmation messages that also ask customers to refer a friend. Write the prompt once, test it five times on real examples, save it somewhere you'll actually find it. That 30-minute investment pays itself back within a fortnight and keeps compounding every week after.

Agencies — ChatGPT's multi-task mode just got useful for research-heavy client briefs

OpenAI updated GPT-Live this week so it can run multiple research threads at once in a single conversation — pulling several data points simultaneously rather than waiting for one answer before asking the next. If your agency builds client briefs from several sources, or you do competitive research across multiple variables, this removes the stop-start friction. It's a feature update, not a new product — if your team already pays for ChatGPT Plus, test it on your next research task before you brief everyone on it.

Professional Services — The FCA's first-ever AI review just signalled where the advice sector is heading

The FCA's Mills Review is the clearest regulatory signal yet that AI use with client data is moving onto the FCA's formal supervisory agenda. If you're an IFA, mortgage broker, insurance broker, or solicitor working on financial matters, the regulator isn't banning anything today — but firms that can show they've thought carefully about which AI tools they use and what client information enters those tools will be well ahead when formal rules arrive. Start a simple log this week: which tool, what task, what you checked before it reached a client. That document will matter in any future supervisory conversation.

Manufacturing & Wholesale — Still writing supplier negotiation emails from scratch?

Nothing specific to manufacturing came through this week — which is exactly when it's worth picking up an evergreen task most operations directors still do manually. ChatGPT can draft a supplier renegotiation email from three bullet points in about 90 seconds: current price, what you want, one piece of market context. You edit and send. For a business handling this monthly across a dozen suppliers, that's several hours recovered. Try it on your next supplier conversation before you open a blank document.

Money on the table this week

No major grant rounds opened for SMEs this week. Innovate UK's Smart Grants programme remains the standing option for manufacturing and professional services businesses with an AI or digital innovation angle — rolling applications, with projects up to £500k and 70% match-funding for businesses under 250 staff. If your business has piloted any AI tool in operations or client delivery in the last 12 months, even at small scale, you're ahead of most applicants. Talk to your grants adviser this week, not next month — windows close without much notice.

Bottom line

If your business sits in or near financial services, the FCA's Mills Review is worth an hour of your time this week before a competitor uses it to reframe the AI conversation with your clients first.

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