FCA deal gives Palantir yet more access to inner workings of power in Britain

Analysis FCA deal gives Palantir yet more access to inner workings of power in Britain Robert Booth UK technology editor Contract affords AI analytics firm access to trove of data on one of the most important financial centres in the world Palantir extends reach into British state as it gets access to sensitive FCA data Palantir’s latest UK contract takes the AI and data analytics company into the heart of one of Britain’s biggest industries: financial services, which accounts for 9% of the economy. The Miami-based company embedded its technology in the NHS in 2023, the police in 2024 and the military in 2025. Land and expand, they say in the tech industry. Palantir has followed the script building contracts worth more than £500m. Now in 2026, its deal with the Financial Conduct Authority to dive into the terabytes of information it gathers gives it yet another unparalleled view of the inner workings of the British authorities. It also gives it sight of a trove of data about the workings of one of the most important global centres of finance, the City of London. The appeal of companies such as Palantir to public authorities is driven by three forces: the push to find more efficient ways to use human resources amid strained public finances; the existence of lakes of data swollen by society’s increased tendency to digitise transactions and communications; and the dawn of AI and the Labour government’s unbridled enthusiasm for its potential to unlock elusive economic growth. Notwithstanding its former use of Peter Mandelson’s lobbying company, Global Counsel, Palantir has become an influential voice in Whitehall. With earnings of $1.4bn in the last three months of last year alone, it can afford top talent and its AI-enabled data analysis systems impress many who see them, in demonstrations at least. Campaign groups rail against Palantir’s work with the US Department of Homeland Security and its ICE operations, and its service to the Israel Defense Forces, but the contr...