Written Answer · 2026-08-05 · Parliament 15
Near-term Risks Posed By Autonomous AI Agents Operating in Financial Services
Ms Mariam Jaafar asked the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, in writing, for the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) assessment of the near-term risks posed by increasingly autonomous AI agents in financial services, whether MAS intends to move from the current industry-led Safeguards for Agentic Finance at Runtime (SAFR) framework towards mandatory supervisory requirements, and if so on what timeline. Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong, replying for the Prime Minister, said that given AI's fast-evolving nature MAS takes a principles-based approach to guide safe and responsible adoption, helping financial institutions (FIs) apply risk management proportionately. In November 2025 MAS published a consultation paper on proposed Guidelines on Artificial Intelligence Risk Management, setting out supervisory expectations for robust board and senior management oversight, sound risk management frameworks and processes, and sound AI life-cycle controls. The Guidelines apply to all AI use cases by FIs, including agentic AI, and will be finalised soon. Beyond supervisory expectations, industry has developed an AI Risk Management Toolkit under Project MindForge, while the SAFR framework sets out a potential approach to how agent actions are authorised, how human oversight is activated and what is recorded at every consequential decision. MAS will keep partnering industry through the Future of Finance Institute and will review and update its supervisory expectations where necessary. No timeline for making SAFR mandatory was given.
Why it matters
MAS's AI Risk Management Guidelines, consulted on in November 2025, are about to be finalised and explicitly cover agentic AI, yet SAFR stays industry-led with no timeline for making it mandatory.
Key Points
- • MAS takes a principles-based approach to AI in finance, helping FIs apply risk management proportionately
- • A consultation paper on proposed Guidelines on AI Risk Management was published in November 2025, covering board oversight, risk frameworks and AI life-cycle controls; it applies to all use cases including agentic AI and will be finalised soon
- • Under Project MindForge the industry built an AI Risk Management Toolkit; the SAFR framework addresses how agent actions are authorised, when human oversight kicks in and what is recorded at each consequential decision
- • MAS will keep co-developing good practices with industry through the Future of Finance Institute and review its supervisory expectations
- • The reply neither commits to turning SAFR from industry-led into a mandatory requirement nor gives a timeline
The Government (via MAS) sticks to a "principles-based plus industry co-development" line on AI in finance: supervisory expectations are delivered through the soon-to-be-finalised Guidelines on AI Risk Management, which cover agentic AI, while implementation detail (the toolkit, SAFR) is left to industry under Project MindForge and the Future of Finance Institute. It makes no commitment to making SAFR mandatory, saying only that expectations will be reviewed and updated where necessary.
The questioner, Ms Mariam Jaafar, was concerned that risks from autonomous AI agents in financial services are rising quickly, that the industry-led SAFR framework may not be enough, and that MAS should move it to binding supervisory requirements soon, with a clear timeline.
MAS is regulating agentic AI through a two-tier structure: hard expectations sit in the general Guidelines on AI Risk Management (covering all AI use cases including agentic AI), while runtime safeguards specific to agent behaviour (SAFR) stay at the industry self-regulation tier. By sidestepping both mandatory status and a timeline for SAFR, the reply signals no agent-specific rules in the near term, with any escalation depending on how industry implements the Guidelines once finalised.
"They apply to all AI use cases by FIs, including agentic AI, and will be finalised soon."
Participants (2)
Original Text (English)
SPRS Hansard · Fetched: 2026-09-04
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.