New research from RED C Research — drawing on a nationally representative survey of 2,000 UK adults — reveals a financial services sector on the cusp of an AI-driven transformation. But the benefits are not reaching everyone equally.

Something is changing in the way people make financial decisions. Not everywhere, and not for everyone – but the shift is real, it is measurable, and it is accelerating faster than many in the financial services sector appear to have noticed.

In March 2026, RED C Research fielded a self-funded study exploring how UK adults are using artificial intelligence across every stage of their financial lives – from researching products and vetting providers to reading terms and conditions, and even deciding whether to switch. The results are striking. They are also, in several important respects, deeply uneven.

Almost 1 in 5 UK adults are already using AI to make financial decisions

17% of UK adults say they have used AI tools – ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and the like – to help them make financial decisions in the past twelve months. That figure, modest at the national level, conceals enormous variation beneath it.

Among Gen Z, the proportion rises to 37%. Among Millennials, it is 27%. Among Gen X, it falls to 11%. Among Baby Boomers, it is just 3%. The generational gradient here is not a gradual curve – it is close to a cliff edge, and it has direct implications for how financial services brands should be thinking about the next decade of customer acquisition.

37% of Gen Z have used AI to help make financial decisions in the past year. Among Baby Boomers, the figure is 3%.

But generation is only part of the story. Geography matters too and the regional picture is where this research becomes most commercially and socially significant.

London is pulling away from the rest of the country

Almost 3 in 10 Londoners (29%) have used AI to help make financial decisions in the past year, statistically significantly ahead of all other UK regions.

Across several specific AI-enabled financial behaviours, the London premium is even more pronounced.

When it comes to using AI to check for negative reviews or scandals before choosing a financial brand, 26% of Londoners do this regularly — compared to the likes of Yorkshire & Humberside at just 12% and 16% in Scotland. For using AI to verify whether a financial brand is legitimate before handing over personal information, the figures are 31% in London and significantly more likely than adults in all other UK regions.

This is not simply a story about digital adoption rates. It is a story about financial empowerment. Consumers who are using AI to scrutinise financial products and providers before committing are better equipped to avoid poor value, identify risk, and make decisions that serve their long-term financial interests.

Despite London currently being forerunners in AI adoption, we know from other research, where London leads, the rest of the UK follows. Therefore, over time AI adoption in financial services will continue to grow elsewhere in the UK.

In London, 31% use AI to verify a financial brand’s legitimacy before sharing personal data, more so than anywhere else in the UK

The paradox at the heart of Gen Z’s financial behaviour

One of the most counterintuitive findings in this research concerns the relationship between Gen Z’s AI adoption and their attitudes toward established financial institutions. Despite being the generation most likely to turn to AI for financial guidance, Gen Z are also the most likely to trust traditional banks and building societies over digital-only challengers.

58% of Gen Z agree that traditional banks — Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide — are more trustworthy than digital-only banks such as Monzo and Revolut. That is the highest proportion of any generation, and it sits in striking tension with the assumption, widely held in the fintech sector, that digital nativity translates into digital-bank loyalty.

What this suggests is that Gen Z are not anti-institution, they are anti-opacity. They are using AI precisely because they want to scrutinise, compare and validate before they commit. They are not abandoning the established players; they are holding them to a higher standard of transparency. For traditional banks, that is an opportunity rather than a threat.

A majority still has AI to come

For all the momentum behind AI adoption in financial services, the most important number in this research may be the one that describes inertia rather than acceleration. 56% of UK adults fall into our category of ‘AI Non-Adopters’ – neither currently using AI for financial decisions nor expressing openness to doing so.

This is not a demographic to write off. These are customers in the present tense for banks, insurers, building societies and investment platforms across the country. And the data suggests that the financial services sector — understandably excited about AI as a capability — risks building its future around a minority of customers while under-investing in the majority.

Understanding who these consumers are, what barriers they face, and what it would take to bring them forward is not a secondary question. For most retail financial services brands, it is the central one.

56% of UK adults are AI Non-Adopters – neither using AI for financial decisions nor open to doing so.

What comes next

The national picture mapped in this first article sets the stage for two more detailed examinations of what this research reveals. Next we look at looks at the sector’s most significant confidence gap: the chasm between men and women in financial self-efficacy, and what it means for a sector being asked by government to bring more retail investors into the market. We then turn to the commercial implications — specifically, what AI is beginning to do to customer loyalty, switching behaviour, and the long-term economics of financial services brand relationships.

Combined, these articles are designed to do something simple: give the people who run financial services brands, and the researchers and marketers who support them, a clearer view of the ground shifting beneath them.

The data is from a nationally representative survey of 2,000 UK adults, fielded by RED C Research in March 2026. If you would like to discuss the findings, explore how this research applies to your organisation, or talk about commissioning further work in this space, we would very much like to hear from you.

Find Out More

Kirsty Koch and Phil Halliwell lead the Financial Services practice at RED C Research. If this research raises questions relevant to your organisation — whether about AI adoption, customer trust, financial confidence, or switching behaviour – they would be delighted to talk.

Book a 30minute call today 

Kirsty Koch, Director  [email protected]

Phil Halliwell, Director  [email protected]