PALANTIR has been awarded a contract to analyse the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) internal intelligence data, sparking concerns over possible leaks.

The FCA confirmed on Sunday that the US tech company will aim to help tackle financial crime and identify risks to consumers and markets.

A spokesman added: “We ran an open, competitive procurement process and have strict controls in place to ensure data is protected.”

But Cardiff University’s Professor Michael Levi, an internationally recognised expert in money laundering, told the Guardian that it was “a relevant question as to whether Palantir’s owners might tip off their friends about methodologies.”

He asked: “What are the protocols agreed between the FCA and Palantir about the onward use of things that they have learned in that process?”

The US company, founded by prominent Donald Trump donor Peter Thiel, already holds contracts with other public-sector bodies in Britain, including the NHS.

Palantir signed a three-year, £421 million deal with the Ministry of Defence last December to continue providing services such as data integration, analytics and AI platforms.

Amid strengthening ties with Britain, Palantir announced in September a £1.5 billion investment to establish this country as its European headquarters for defence, creating 350 “high-skilled” new jobs.

The Guardian reported the company would charge more than £30,000 a week over three months for its analysis work.

Under the terms of the contract, Palantir can only act on instructions from the regulator, which retains control over encryption keys for the most sensitive data.

According to the newspaper, the company must also destroy the data after the contract ends, with intellectual property rights being retained by the FCA.

Amnesty International UK’s business and human rights director Peter Frankental said: “Companies linked to human rights abuses should not be given access to sensitive UK public data full stop. First it was our health data, now it’s financial intelligence.

“The UK government is taking an unacceptable risk by allowing Palantir Technologies to embed itself in systems handling the public’s most sensitive information and profit from it at the expense of our privacy, integrity and values. We are calling for a full review into whether it is appropriate to grant this level of access to a company so closely associated with some of the most serious human rights concerns of our time.”