The FY2026 Examination Priorities, released November 17, 2025, keep AI and automated investment tools as an 'Emerging Financial Technology' focus. Examiners will 'focus on recent advancements in AI,' review AI-capability representations for accuracy, and test whether firms have adequate policies and procedures to monitor and supervise AI used in fraud prevention and detection, back-office operations, AML, and trading. The cybersecurity section adds a new item: training and security controls for risks from AI-enabled and polymorphic malware attacks, and how firms operationalize threat intelligence.
| Document | Division of Examinations FY2026 Priorities — Examination Priorities: Fiscal Year 2026 — Division of Examinations |
| Issued by | U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |
| Type | Report |
| Status | In force |
| Published | Nov 17, 2025 |
| Effective | Nov 17, 2025 |
| Applies to | SEC-registered investment advisers, broker-dealers, funds, transfer agents, and SCI entities, including bank-affiliated firms |
| Supersedes | Division of Examinations FY2025 Priorities |
| Official source | sec.gov ↗ |
| Use cases | AI governance (general) · Cybersecurity · AML / KYC · Fraud detection · Trading & capital markets · Generative & agentic AI |
What are the key points of Division of Examinations FY2026 Priorities?
- Same four-part test as FY2025 for automated advisory services and recommendations: fair and accurate representations; controls consistent with disclosures; algorithms consistent with investor profiles; controls confirming obligations to retail and older investors.
- New emphasis on 'recent advancements in AI' — read by practitioners as generative and agentic tools.
- AI-enabled attacks and polymorphic malware appear for the first time under information security and operational resiliency.
- Regulation S-P amendments: examiners will engage firms on incident-response programs ahead of compliance dates and test them afterward.
- Regulation S-ID identity-theft programs, third-party vendor oversight, and governance remain in scope — all of which touch AI-driven fraud and account-takeover detection.
- The Division describes 2026 as a 'modified approach' with renewed focus on Reg BI, fiduciary conduct, complex products, and broker-dealer financial responsibility.
What did Division of Examinations FY2026 Priorities change for banks?
For bank broker-dealers and advisers this is the operative SEC statement on AI in 2026, filling the gap left by the withdrawn PDA rule. It makes clear that the SEC's approach is supervision and disclosure accuracy, not conflict elimination, and it adds AI-enabled cyber threats as an examination topic in their own right.
What does the SEC's 2026 exam priorities document say about AI?
Examiners will review AI representations for accuracy, assess policies to supervise AI in fraud detection, back-office, AML and trading, check that automated advice matches investor profiles, and look at controls against AI-enabled and polymorphic malware attacks.
When were the SEC 2026 examination priorities released?
November 17, 2025, for the fiscal year that began October 1, 2025.
| Date | Document | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 21, 2024 | Division of Examinations FY2025 Priorities — Examination Priorities: Fiscal Year 2025 — Division of Examinations | Superseded |
| Mar 4, 2026 | Atkins remarks at FSOC AI roundtable (Mar 2026) — Remarks at Financial Stability Oversight Council Artificial Intelligence Innovation Series Roundtable on Strategy and Governance Principles | Final |
| Dec 4, 2025 | Investor Advisory Committee AI disclosure recommendation — Recommendation of the SEC Investor Advisory Committee Regarding the Disclosure of Artificial Intelligence's Impact on Operations | Final |
| Jun 12, 2025 | SEC withdrawal of proposed rules (33-11377) — Withdrawal of Proposed Regulatory Actions — including the predictive data analytics conflicts proposal | Final |
| Apr 9, 2025 | SEC v. Saniger (Nate, Inc.) — SEC Charges Founder of Nate, Inc. with Fraud Over False Claims About the Company's Use of Artificial Intelligence | Final |
| Jan 14, 2025 | Presto Automation AI-washing order — SEC Charges Restaurant-Technology Company Presto Automation for Misleading Statements About AI Product | Final |
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