| In scope |
- Are you doing something that is within our remit? Will your customers be in the UK?
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- Your innovation is intended for the UK market
- The relevant activity is regulated by us or may be used by firms we regulate
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- Your innovation doesn’t appear to be intended for use in the UK
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| Genuine innovation |
- Are you doing something that’s ground-breaking or significantly different? This could be something completely new, or it could be a new market or a new version of an existing model.
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- Desk research produces few or no comparable examples of innovation in the market
- Your innovation is a clear step-change in scale
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- There are numerous examples of similar innovations to yours
- Your innovations appear to be a superficial variation of an existing model
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| Consumer benefit |
- How does your proposal help consumers (either individuals or businesses)?
- How is it an improvement on existing services?
- How will you protect them from any risks your model poses?
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- Your innovation is likely to lead to a better deal for consumers (eg through lower prices, higher quality, better security etc)
- You have considered possible consumer risks and how to address them
- Your innovation will make market entry or compliance with FCA rules easier
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- Potential detrimental impact on consumers, markets or the financial system
- Facilitates circumvention of regulatory or fiscal obligations
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| Readiness |
- Have you thought about how your model works with our rules? Have you carried out any background research into the regulations that might apply to your business?
- Can you explain how your business will work?
- Are you ready to test the innovation in the real market with real consumers?
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- You have clearly done background research, have sought to understand obligations , and have a clear, defined business proposal
- You have a well-developed testing plan with clear objectives, parameters and success criteria
- You have already undertaken testing
- You have the resources to test in the Sandbox
- You have sufficient safeguards in place to protect consumers and can provide appropriate redress if required
- Any testing partners are in place, or soon will be
- If authorisation is required for a test, you are ready to apply in the near future
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- You have made little or no effort to understand relevant regulations
- There are unclear testing objectives and/or your plans for testing are underdeveloped
- You don’t have the resources for the test
- Your proposed customer safeguards are inadequate and/or appropriate redress can’t be provided
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| Need for support |
- Do you have a genuine need to test in our Sandbox?
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- You have no alternative means of engaging with the FCA
- The innovation doesn’t easily fit our existing regulatory framework
- You will benefit from using a Sandbox tool to test in a live environment
- The full authorisation process would be too costly/difficult for a viable and short test
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- You already have a dedicated supervisor who could answer the query
- You have significant regulatory compliance resource
- Your business model easily fits the existing regulatory framework with no particularly difficult questions
- Live testing is not necessary to answer your question or achieve your goal
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