UK Finance Sector Struggles to Monitor AI-Generated Compliance Content
Sixty-one percent of UK financial services professionals now use generative AI daily, but fewer than a third believe their organisations can detect the risks it creates, new research shows.
The study, conducted by communications data platform Smarsh, found that AI has moved from experimental tool to embedded workflow across the sector. Yet as usage scales, compliance gaps are widening.
AI is now used for regulated content
Workers are deploying AI across internal tasks like call summaries (49%) and briefing notes (50%). More concerning: they're also using it for client communications (40%), compliance documentation (34%), and marketing content (38%).
Sixty-nine percent of professionals report that AI is increasing the volume of content they produce. Only 41% thoroughly review and edit AI-generated outputs before sending them to clients or publishing them.
Younger workers aged 25-34 are driving adoption, with over a third using AI multiple times daily. But uptake is cross-generational: 32% of those aged 35-54 and 28% of those aged 55-64 use it daily.
The monitoring problem
Just 32% of finance professionals believe their organisation's surveillance systems can fully detect AI-related risks. The gap is most acute among younger workers-43% of those aged 25-34 lack confidence in their firm's ability to monitor AI output.
This creates a paradox: the demographics most actively generating AI content are also most aware that their organisations cannot properly oversee it.
Workers want oversight, not restrictions
Eighty-one percent of financial services professionals say they would feel more confident using AI if they knew outputs were properly monitored. This represents a 12% increase from the same question asked a year earlier.
Among those aged 18-34, the figure rises to 87%. Rather than resisting supervision, workers-especially those most active with AI-are calling for it.
The finding suggests that compliance infrastructure, when properly communicated, can be framed as an enabler rather than a constraint. For PR and communications teams in financial services, this has implications for how firms message AI adoption internally.
What this means for communications professionals
As AI-generated content flows across client communications, marketing, and compliance channels, communications teams face new responsibilities. They need to understand which outputs are being created, how they're being monitored, and how to communicate AI use transparently to clients and regulators.
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