Black box to sandbox: Framework needed for safe AI adoption in finance

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) introduced "FEAT" (fairness, ethics, accountability, and transparency) principles in 2018

The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI’s) Framework for Responsible and Ethical Enablement of Artificial Intelligence (FREE-AI) committee released its final report last week, proposing guidelines for the responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial sector. The framework is anchored around seven guiding “sutras” or principles — trust, people first, innovation, fairness, accountability, explainability, and resilience — and is backed by 26 actionable recommendations across six pillars — infrastructure, policy, capacity, governance, protection, and assurance.

 

The report arrives at a critical juncture. A World Economic Forum study (2025) estimates that global AI investment in finance could reach $97 billion