Near-term Risks Posed By Autonomous AI Agents Operating in Financial Services
Ministry of FinanceSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) assessment of risks from autonomous AI agents and whether the Safeguards for Agentic Finance at Runtime (SAFR) framework will become mandatory. Ms Mariam Jaafar asked about near-term risks posed by agentic AI in financial services and the timeline for transitioning SAFR to mandatory supervisory requirements. Responding for the Prime Minister, Mr Gan Kim Yong stated that MAS adopts a principles-based approach to guide safe, responsible, and proportionate AI adoption by financial institutions. He highlighted that MAS published a consultation paper in November 2025 on proposed Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence Risk Management, which cover all AI use cases including agentic AI and will be finalised soon. MAS continues to partner with the industry through the Future of Finance Institute on practical toolkits and will review and update supervisory expectations where necessary.
Transcript
43 Ms Mariam Jaafar asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance (a) what is the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS') assessment of the near-term risks posed by increasingly autonomous AI agents operating in financial services; (b) whether MAS intends to move from the current industry-led Safeguards for Agentic Finance at Runtime (SAFR) framework towards mandatory supervisory requirements; and (c) if so, on what timeline.
Mr Gan Kim Yong (for the Prime Minister): Given AI's fast-evolving nature, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is taking a principles-based approach to guide safe and responsible AI adoption. This is to support financial institutions (FIs) in proportionately applying risk management practices when using AI.
In November 2025, MAS published a consultation paper on the proposed Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence Risk Management. The Guidelines set out MAS' supervisory expectations for FIs to have robust board and senior management oversight, sound risk management frameworks and processes and sound AI life cycle controls. They apply to all AI use cases by FIs, including agentic AI, and will be finalised soon.
Beyond setting supervisory expectations, MAS has also worked closely with the industry to develop practical implementation resources. Under Project MindForge, the industry has developed an AI Risk Management Toolkit to help FIs implement the Guidelines. The Safeguards for Agentic Finance at Runtime framework sets out a potential approach to how agent actions are authorised, how human oversight is activated and what is recorded at the point of every consequential decision.
As we partner with industry through the Future of Finance Institute to develop these good practices and toolkits, we will also continue to review our supervisory expectations and update them where necessary to support the safe and responsible adoption of AI in the financial sector.