AI could make financial services more inclusive - but only if accessibility is part of the infrastructure
Robin Christopherson | 27 Jul 2026In July 2026, the UK Government published its Financial Services AI Adoption Plan, setting out an ambitious vision for accelerating AI across the sector. The accompanying Mills Review paints an even more detailed picture of how artificial intelligence may reshape financial services over the next decade.
There is a lot to welcome. Both documents recognise the potential for AI to help people make better financial decisions, reduce friction, improve access to support and close long-standing gaps in advice, protection and financial inclusion. For many people, that could be transformative. 
As someone who has spent many years working in accessibility and digital inclusion, I can see genuine opportunities here. AI can already simplify complex information, explain unfamiliar concepts in plain language, adapt to individual needs and help people navigate systems that were never designed with them in mind.
But there is also a risk that has not received enough attention. If accessibility is treated as a feature rather than a foundation, AI could deepen existing inequalities just as easily as it could reduce them.
Financial inclusion and digital inclusion are becoming the same conversation
One of the strongest themes running through the Mills Review is the idea that AI could help people who currently struggle with financial services.
The review highlights the advice gap, low product switching, financial exclusion and the challenges facing customers with low financial capability. It also suggests AI agents could eventually help people manage their finances continuously rather than requiring them to navigate increasingly complex products and decisions themselves.
This is a key point to consider, because many of the same people who are most likely to face barriers to financial services also face barriers to technology; disabled people. Older people. People with lower digital confidence. People whose first language is not English. People experiencing cognitive overload, stress or poor mental health. For these groups, the quality of the interface is often just as important as the quality of the underlying advice.
An AI assistant that works beautifully for a confident, digitally skilled user may be unusable to somebody who relies on a screen reader, uses voice control, struggles with reading or needs information presented differently.
If AI becomes a primary route into financial services, accessibility must become a foundational part of financial inclusion. It simply cannot be left until the end of the development process.
AI is transforming financial services, but is it accessible?AI agents raise new accessibility questions
Much of the current discussion focuses on AI making recommendations. The Mills Review looks further ahead. It describes a future in which consumers increasingly delegate tasks to AI agents that monitor products, compare alternatives, switch providers and even manage aspects of their financial lives.
That future raises important accessibility questions:
- How does someone understand what their AI agent has done on their behalf?
- How can they review decisions?
- How do they challenge an outcome?
- How do they withdraw consent?
- How do they maintain confidence and control?
These questions are relevant for everyone, but they are especially important for disabled customers or people who may already find digital interactions difficult.
Accessibility is about being able to access content or functionality. It also requires that people understand what is happening, retain agency and can participate confidently. That applies when interacting with a website, an app or an autonomous AI system.
Personalisation can help. It can also exclude.
The adoption plan talks positively about personalised support and tailored experiences. The Mills Review also highlights the potential benefits of hyper-personalisation. Done well, this could be one of AI's greatest strengths.
Imagine financial information automatically adapted to a person's preferred language, literacy level, communication style or accessibility requirements. Imagine complex pension information explained in plain English. Imagine forms that adapt to individual needs rather than forcing everyone through identical journeys.
Those possibilities are exciting but it must be understood by organisations that personalisation is not automatically inclusive.
Models trained on biased data can produce biased outcomes. Systems that optimise for efficiency often overlook people whose needs fall outside the norm. Experiences that work perfectly for most users fail entirely for some people.
Inclusive design has always started from a simple principle: design for people at the margins and everyone benefits. The same principle needs to guide AI-enabled financial services.
Trust will depend on inclusion 
The Mills Review correctly identifies trust as one of the biggest factors determining AI adoption. Consumers are interested in the benefits AI might bring, but they remain concerned about privacy, accountability, transparency and protection when things go wrong.
Accessibility plays a central role here. People are more likely to trust systems they can understand, are more likely to trust services they can navigate independently, and are more likely to trust organisations that recognise and accommodate different needs.
Financial services providers need to see this as more than a compliance exercise. The goal and measure of true success is creating products that more people can use confidently and effectively.
An opportunity to get ahead
The UK has a real opportunity to lead in AI-enabled financial services.
The Government wants the sector to move beyond pilots and scale adoption responsibly. The Mills Review calls for trusted adoption, better consumer outcomes and more inclusive services.
Accessibility should sit at the centre of that agenda, because an AI system that excludes part of the population will never achieve the outcomes these reports are aiming for.
If we are serious about improving financial capability, tackling exclusion and giving consumers more control, accessibility should be seen as a key part of the infrastructure.
The industry has a chance to build those foundations now, and it should seize that opportunity.
How AbilityNet can help
Financial services organisations are moving quickly from experimentation to implementation. That creates an opportunity to ensure accessibility and inclusion are built into AI programmes from the start rather than assessed later.
AbilityNet helps organisations:
- Assess the accessibility of AI-enabled products and services
- Conduct user research with disabled and older people
- Build inclusive design practices into AI development
- Train teams on accessibility, digital inclusion and inclusive AI
- Understand the needs of customers in vulnerable circumstances
- Align accessibility, customer outcomes and regulatory expectations
The organisations that succeed with AI will be those that make it work for the widest possible range of people.
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