OCC issues supervisory framework for examiners on banks' use of AI

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has issued Bulletin 2026-54, a supervisory framework that helps examiners evaluate how banks use what it calls super intelligence, meaning AI. It is dated 4 November and signed by James M. Gallagher, Senior Deputy Comptroller and Chief National Bank Examiner.

The OCC states that the framework does not establish supervisory expectations for banks and that banks are not expected to use it to assess their own AI risk management. Examiners should not treat the technology as a separate risk category, and banks are not required to define a separate risk appetite for it.

Reviews are tailored to the materiality of each use case. The bulletin says a bank's risk classification of use cases may be based on potential consequences, transfer of agency and the degree of human oversight. Community banks may be examined under the framework, scaled to size, complexity and risk profile.