Artificial Intelligence and Compliance: The New Ethical Dilemma in the Financial Sector.

FINANCE AND BANKING / by Miguel Gallardo Guerra

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how financial institutions manage operations, risks, and compliance processes. From systems that detect suspicious transactions in real time to decision engines for credit scoring, AI is becoming a strategic tool in regulatory compliance.

However, its use raises questions that go beyond technology or efficiency. What happens when an algorithm makes opaque decisions? How can we ensure it doesn’t lead to bias, discrimination, or violations of fundamental rights?

Key Risks of AI in Compliance.

• Lack of explainability: Many algorithms operate as “black boxes”, making it difficult to explain decisions to regulators.
  
• Algorithmic bias: If a model is trained on biased historical data, it will amplify and perpetuate those biases.

  
• Unclear legal liability: Who is responsible if an automated decision causes harm the programmer, the financial institution, or the tech provider?


In Mexico, there is no specific regulation yet for AI in the financial sector. However, several authorities have expressed interest in developing algorithmic governance frameworks to ensure transparency, accountability, and data protection.

A Step Toward National Regulation.

In March 2025, Deputy Ricardo Monreal Ávila introduced a proposal to amend the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States, with the aim of empowering the Congress of the Union to legislate on matters related to artificial intelligence.

Subsequently, in May 2025, Senator Juanita Guerra Mena introduced before the Senate the General Law for the Use and Control of Artificial Intelligence in the Public and Private Sectors. This proposal seeks to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework to promote the ethical, transparent, and sustainable use of AI in both public institutions and private companies.

The initiative calls for the creation of specialized entities —such as the National Agency for Artificial Intelligence and the National Center for Artificial Intelligence and Technology— responsible for supervising and evaluating the development of this technology. It also proposes classifying AI systems according to their risk level and requiring ethical and legal impact assessments before implementation.

Additionally, the bill addresses environmental and intellectual property concerns, promoting sustainability by limiting the excessive use of natural resources in data centers and protecting human creativity from AI-generated content.

An Opportunity for the Financial Sector.

While the proposals are still under discussion, they mark a key step toward defining a national AI policy. For financial institutions, its eventual approval could introduce new obligations in algorithmic auditing, technological governance, and corporate ethics.

From a compliance lawyer’s perspective, it is essential that institutions:

• Document and monitor the algorithms they use.

• Ensure human oversight mechanisms are in place.

• Adopt ethical and sustainable principles in the design and use of AI, even before they become mandatory.

AI can be a powerful ally for compliance. But it must be integrated with awareness, transparency, and responsibility. In the digital age, compliance is not just technical, it is ethical, and increasingly, regulatory.

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