CB Announces Soft Regulation and Trusted Data-Sharing Platforms for AI in Financial Markets

© ЦБ РФ

The Bank of Russia has concluded public consultations on its report regarding the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the financial market. A total of 112 respondents participated in the consultations, including banks, insurance companies, professional securities market participants, industry associations, and infrastructure organizations.

As a result of the discussions, the regulator highlighted key areas for further development of AI in the financial sector. Among the priorities are flexible regulation of technologies and the creation of trusted platforms for data exchange between market participants.

The Central Bank noted that for the full-scale implementation of AI, financial institutions need access to infrastructure solutions, high-quality datasets for training models, trust in technologies, and a favorable regulatory environment.

The regulator intends to maintain a technology-neutral approach to AI adoption. This format, according to the Bank of Russia, will allow market participants to more actively implement innovative solutions while taking into account the specifics of individual industries and associated risks. Cross-sector regulation of AI use is expected to remain framework-based.

The Bank of Russia also emphasized that financial market participants are already guided by the provisions of the Ethics Code in the field of artificial intelligence. Over the course of the year, the Bank plans to collaborate with financial organizations to prepare a collection of best practices for its application.

In addition, participants in the discussions supported the initiative to create trusted data exchange platforms. It is expected that such mechanisms will allow financial institutions to jointly train AI models for combating fraud, risk assessment, and improving customer services.

The Bank of Russia stated that it will prepare proposals for regulating the activities of such platforms and will continue working to eliminate restrictions on the use of privacy-enhancing technologies in the financial sector.

The regulator announced that it will continue to engage with relevant government agencies and market participants to create conditions conducive to the development of artificial intelligence in the financial industry, as well as continue monitoring the use of AI by financial organizations.