Singapore’s central bank wants all FinTech AI use cases subject to independent review

Singapore’s Monetary Authority, which acts as both central bank and finance industry regulator, wants all local industry players to seek independent review of AI use cases before deployment.

The island nation’s combination of strict regulation and low taxes have made it one of the world’s premier finance hubs.

One of the roles of Singapore’s Monetary Authority (MAS) is ensuring the nation retains that status, but in its first Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence Risk Management for Financial Institutions, published on Wednesday, warns that AI increases risk.

“The use of AI can improve performance across business and functional areas but its complexity and probabilistic nature can lead to greater uncertainty, as well as unexpected or more biased behaviour that is harder to identify compared to the use of simpler methods,” the guidelines state.

And that’s MAS’s view of old-school AI: it rates generative AI as even riskier.

“The greater complexity of Generative AI gives rise to even greater uncertainty and unexpected behaviour compared to AI,” MAS warns, citing “noise that is inherent in training data, training data that may not be representative, or when the model encounters scenarios that are not present in its training data” as sources of risk.

The regulator fears agentic AI “could further amplify these risks.” MAS therefore calls for financial institutions (FIs) to expand their risk management frameworks to cover AI and expects board and senior management to make that happen.

The regulator also wants all AI use cases to undergo independent review before going into production.

“Prior to deployment, an FI should subject the AI use case, including its underlying systems or models, to reviews by parties not involved in its development to ensure that the relevant controls, such as evaluation and testing, have been adhered to,” the guidelines state.

MAS also wants regulated entities to run technology and cybersecurity reviews “to ensure that AI can be deployed into the production environment in a controlled and secure manner.” If an AI project survives those reviews, MAS wants ongoing monitoring of both the FI’s own systems and any third-party AI powering an application.

“Given the uncertainties associated with AI, their dynamic nature and the potential for model staleness and performance degradation due to data or model drifts over time, ongoing monitoring is critical to ensure that deployed AI operates as intended and remains fit for purpose over time,” the guidelines state.

MAS does not see failings by third-party AI suppliers as an acceptable excuse for AI problems at entities it regulates, and it wants FIs to monitor their suppliers’ products and services to ensure they remain stable and secure.