MAS and RBI Forge New AI Governance Fintech Standards for Global Markets

The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Reserve Bank of India are intensifying their collaborative efforts to standardise AI governance and secure cross-border payment infrastructures. For fintech professionals, this represents a transition from theoretical AI experimentation to industrial-scale deployment, supported by new frameworks like SAFR and Pathfin.ai that address the systemic risks of autonomous agentic finance.

What was announced

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has introduced several initiatives designed to scale artificial intelligence across the financial sector while mitigating emerging risks. Central to this is Pathfin.ai, a platform and programme created to match validated AI solutions with financial institutions. The initiative currently includes over 300 participants and aims to lower the barrier to entry for smaller firms by providing access to proven, cost-effective technologies. This follows the 2025 publication of two AI Risk Management Handbooks and the release of a public consultation on Guidelines for AI Risk Management, which establish supervisory expectations for governance and life cycle controls.

A significant focus has been placed on "Agentic Finance" through the SAFR (Safeguards for Agentic Finance at Runtime) framework. Published as a white paper in July, SAFR provides a structure for managing autonomous AI agents, focusing on identity verification, authority limits, and real-time audit records. This comes amid a sharp rise in AI-driven threats; high-severity Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) increased sixfold this year to 2,200, while Crowdstrike reported an 89% surge in AI-enabled cyber attacks.

On the international front, the Singapore-India partnership continues to expand. Following the 2023 UPI-PayNow linkage, which has seen transaction volumes double annually, the two nations are now founding members of Nexus. This multilateral initiative aims to interconnect fast-payment systems globally through a single common framework. Additionally, a 2025 Memorandum of Understanding was signed between MAS and the Reserve Bank of India specifically targeting digital asset cooperation.

"The largest, well-managed financial institutions need no encouragement. They are in rapid adoption. Our focus with them is good governance — around safety, guardrails, and accountability. AI should not only be a competitive tool wielded by the largest financial institutions. We should avoid a winner-takes-all dynamic if we are to maintain a competitive and stable financial system to support the public and the economy."

A representative of the Monetary Authority of Singapore at the Global FinTech Festival.

The companies involved

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) serves as the nation's central bank and integrated financial supervisor. It has been a primary driver of fintech innovation in the Asia-Pacific region, frequently collaborating with international regulators to establish standards for digital assets and real-time payments. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is India's central bank, responsible for the regulation of the Indian banking system and the issuance of the Indian rupee. The RBI has gained international recognition for its leadership in digital public infrastructure, particularly through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), which MAS has cited as a reference for its own digital payment roadmaps.

Also involved in the bilateral cooperation is the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), which acts as a unified regulator for the development and regulation of financial products and services in India's International Financial Services Centres, such as GIFT City. These organisations have established a series of formal agreements, including a 2018 MOU on financial innovation and a 2022 agreement on supervisory cooperation, to facilitate cross-border fintech activity and regulatory alignment.

What FF News has reported before

FF News has closely tracked the evolution of the Singapore-India fintech corridor and the broader digital infrastructure in the region. In September 2026, we reported that the RBI and NPCI Launch UPI Tap & Pay and AI-Powered MyUPI at GFF 2026, highlighting the ongoing integration of AI into India's payment stack. Singapore's status as a global hub was further cemented when Finmo Opens Global HQ in Singapore to Accelerate AI-Driven Treasury Innovation, a move that coincided with their TreasuryOS crossing the US $1 billion milestone. Additionally, the cross-border payment landscape has seen significant consolidation and networking, as seen when Tazapay Joins Borderless Network to Scale Stablecoin Payouts and the subsequent news that Circle to Acquire Tazapay to Scale USDC Cross-Border Payment Infrastructure.

What this means

The industry is moving past the "GenAI hype" phase into a more dangerous and consequential era of "Agentic Finance." The "Mythos moment"—where AI discovers and exploits vulnerabilities at scale—is no longer a theoretical threat but a statistical reality, as evidenced by the surge in CVEs. This puts immense pressure on incumbent financial institutions to move beyond simple multi-layered defences and toward AI-driven cyber resilience. Furthermore, the regulatory push to avoid a "winner-takes-all" dynamic suggests that future policy may mandate greater interoperability and resource-sharing. For the sector, the challenge is no longer just adoption, but maintaining human oversight as AI agents begin to execute near-instantaneous financial decisions.