By Stuart Davis, Andrew Moyle, Fiona Maclean, Christian McDermott and Charlotte Collins

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has provided an update on its regulatory sandbox initiative. The sandbox is part of Project Innovate, and Toy shovel in sandallows businesses (whether already authorised or not) to test new offerings in the market under close supervision and without many of the usual regulatory consequences.

The first cohort of firms has now finished testing and the FCA states that it expects most firms to take forward their propositions to market, indicating that round one has been a success.

Meanwhile, the FCA has taken on its second cohort of 24 firms, whittled down from 77 applicants. These firms will begin testing shortly. The FCA has published a full list of these firms and short descriptions of what they will be testing on its website.