The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has concluded its six-week policy sprint, which aims to support new ways to help consumers make important investment decisions.

The regulator’s sprint is part of its work on targeted support, as it looks to tackle the gap between bespoke financial advice and guidance.

It comes after the FCA found that just 9% of UK consumers took regulated financial advice in the past year.

At a showcase on 8 April, FCA-authorised firms, including retail banks, platform providers and wealth managers, presented customer journeys they have developed to help and support people to consider cash to investment decisions.

This included models that were tested and refined using real customers in real time.

The FCA said that the work "provides a unique opportunity to reset the rules to create a new form of help" for customers who face decisions about their finances.

This is the first policy sprint that the regulator has run in this way, testing a future rule set before formal consultation involving industry, consumer groups and other regulators, such as the Financial Ombudsman Service and the Information Commissioner’s Office.

The aim of the sprint is to help accelerate the final policy proposals that will be put out for consultation by the end of June 2025.

Executive director for consumers, competition and international at the FCA, Sarah Pritchard, said: "We want to see a consumer investment market where people can invest with confidence, understanding the risks and opportunities available to them. The sprint is an important step to achieving that goal, helping firms explore ways to support consumers and helping the FCA to refine the proposed policy framework before consultation. We look forward to seeing more innovative solutions emerge.

"We encourage firms and consumer groups to keep engaging with us, and for firms who are interested to use our sandboxes to start testing their innovative solutions now."

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