On February 19, 2026 Treasury released a shared Artificial Intelligence Lexicon and the Financial Services AI Risk Management Framework (FS AI RMF), the first two of six deliverables from the Artificial Intelligence Executive Oversight Group (AIEOG), a public-private partnership of the FBIIC and the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council. The FS AI RMF adapts the NIST AI Risk Management Framework to the operational, regulatory, and consumer-protection specifics of financial services and gives institutions tools to evaluate AI use cases and manage risk across the AI lifecycle. Both are non-binding and were issued in support of the President's AI Action Plan.
| Document | Treasury FS AI RMF and AI Lexicon (Feb 2026) — Financial Services AI Risk Management Framework (FS AI RMF) and Artificial Intelligence Lexicon |
| Issued by | U.S. Department of the Treasury (including the Financial Stability Oversight Council) |
| Type | Framework |
| Status | Final |
| Published | Feb 19, 2026 |
| Applies to | Voluntary for all U.S. financial institutions, regulators, and technology providers; designed to scale from community banks to multinational institutions |
| Official source | home.treasury.gov ↗ |
| Use cases | Model risk management · AI governance (general) · Cybersecurity · Third-party & vendor AI · Generative & agentic AI |
What are the key points of Treasury FS AI RMF and AI Lexicon (Feb 2026)?
- Two of six AIEOG deliverables; the others cover explainability, data nutrition labeling, AI-enhanced fraud, and identity and authentication
- AI Lexicon establishes common definitions for AI concepts, capabilities, and risk categories across regulatory, technical, legal, and business functions
- FS AI RMF adapts the NIST AI RMF (Govern, Map, Measure, Manage) to financial-services operations, regulation, and consumer protection
- Provides tools to evaluate AI use cases, manage lifecycle risk, and embed accountability, transparency, and resilience in deployment decisions
- Explicitly scalable and flexible for institutions of varying size and complexity
- Developed with federal and state financial regulators and senior industry executives; endorsed by the Cyber Risk Institute
- Announced one day after Treasury's February 18, 2026 statement that the AIEOG initiative was complete
- Executes the 'expand the NIST AI RMF for financial services' recommendation from Treasury's March 2024 report
What did Treasury FS AI RMF and AI Lexicon (Feb 2026) change for banks?
For the first time banks have a government-backed, sector-specific AI risk framework and a common vocabulary that regulators helped write. It is voluntary, but because prudential regulators participated, mapping an AI governance program to the FS AI RMF is the most defensible way to show examiners a structured approach, especially for community and mid-sized banks that lacked a template.
How does the FS AI RMF relate to the NIST AI RMF?
It is a financial-services adaptation of the NIST AI Risk Management Framework, tailoring NIST's functions to banking operations, regulatory obligations, and consumer-protection requirements, with practical tools and reference materials.
Who wrote the Treasury AI Lexicon and FS AI RMF?
The Artificial Intelligence Executive Oversight Group (AIEOG), a public-private partnership between the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee (regulators) and the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council (industry), convened by Treasury.
Do examiners require use of the FS AI RMF?
No. It is non-binding, but it was developed with federal and state regulators and is intended to support consistent supervision and implementation.
| Date | Document | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Jun 24, 2026 | FSOC AI Innovation Series (Mar–May 2026) — Artificial Intelligence Innovation Series — FSOC and Treasury AI Transformation Office roundtables | Final |
| Dec 11, 2025 | FSOC 2025 Annual Report — Financial Stability Oversight Council 2025 Annual Report — Section 3.4, Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Promote Financial Stability | Final |
| Dec 19, 2024 | Treasury AI in Financial Services report (Dec 2024) — Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services — Report on the Uses, Opportunities, and Risks of AI in the Financial Services Sector | Final |
| Dec 6, 2024 | FSOC 2024 Annual Report — Financial Stability Oversight Council 2024 Annual Report — Section 3.3.3, The Use of Artificial Intelligence in Financial Services | Superseded |
| Oct 17, 2024 | Treasury $4B AI fraud-prevention announcement (Oct 2024) — Treasury Announces Enhanced Fraud Detection Processes, Including Machine Learning AI, Prevented and Recovered Over $4 Billion in Fiscal Year 2024 | Final |
| Jun 12, 2024 | Treasury AI RFI (June 2024) — Request for Information on Uses, Opportunities, and Risks of Artificial Intelligence in the Financial Services Sector | Final |
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