OSFI Endorses the FSB's Sound Practices for AI and Says Institutions Also Face the Risk of Falling Behind if They Fail to Adopt AI at a Sufficient Pace

In a statement of October 15, 2026, Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions endorses the Financial Stability Board's Sound Practices for Responsible Adoption of Artificial Intelligence and says its own guidelines set principles-based expectations that apply to the adoption and use of AI.

Canada's Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, OSFI, published a statement on October 15, 2026 on the Financial Stability Board's Sound Practices for Responsible Adoption of Artificial Intelligence. OSFI welcomes the publication, and says plainly: "OSFI endorses the Sound Practices."

The practices, OSFI says, "set out a proportionate approach to enabling the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) while managing the risks it can create." There are 12 practices, and they "address organization-wide governance and management of AI throughout its lifecycle," supported by practical case studies.

Opportunities and Risks

AI "creates opportunities for financial institutions to improve efficiency, strengthen risk management, and better serve customers. But it can also amplify existing risks or create new ones." Those risks, it says, can include operational, technology, cyber, third-party, model, data and governance risks. "At the same time," the statement goes on, "institutions face the risk of falling behind if they fail to adopt AI at a sufficient pace."

The statement counts slowness as a risk too.

OSFI's Guidelines and Its Monitoring

The practices also, in OSFI's words, "reinforce the importance of clear accountability, effective human oversight, sound data governance, and controls proportionate to the materiality and risk of each AI use case." They complement OSFI's own guidelines, "which set principles-based expectations that apply to the adoption and use of AI." Those guidelines, it says, include the Corporate Governance Guideline, the Integrity and Security Guideline, Guideline B-10 on third-party risk management, Guideline B-13 on technology and cyber risk management, Guideline E-21 on operational risk management and resilience, and Guideline E-23 on model risk management.

OSFI says it will continue to monitor how AI is changing the risk environment and the operations of financial institutions. Since 2022 it has worked with an outside institute through the Financial Industry Forum on Artificial Intelligence, and it issues Technology Risk Bulletins on emerging technology risks and sound risk-management practices.

Sources

Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI), Canada. OSFI statement on the Financial Stability Board's publication of Sound Practices for Responsible Adoption of Artificial Intelligence. 15 October 2026. regulator

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