FINRA Publishes 2026 Regulatory Oversight Report with Expanded AI and Agentic AI Guidance

Summary

On December 9, 2025, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published its 2026 Annual Regulatory Oversight Report, which contains a significantly expanded standalone section on Generative AI, building on the topic's introduction in the prior year's report. The report was released earlier than usual in response to member firm feedback about its value for annual compliance planning. The report's most notable development is its introduction of a regulatory framing for agentic AI syste