Perfios Earns Global AI Certification, Raising Bar for Financial Tech

BENGALURU, India – January 22, 2026 – In a move that signals a significant shift toward greater accountability in artificial intelligence, Indian TechFin leader Perfios has achieved the ISO/IEC 42001:2023 certification. This makes it one of the first technology companies in the global Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) sector to adopt the world’s premier standard for an Artificial Intelligence Management System (AIMS).

The certification, awarded after a rigorous independent audit, validates Perfios's commitment to responsible AI governance across its entire technology stack. As financial institutions worldwide grapple with the dual pressures of innovation and regulation, this achievement sets a new, verifiable benchmark for trust, safety, and ethical conduct in the rapidly evolving world of AI-driven finance.

A New Global Blueprint for AI Governance

Published in December 2023, the ISO/IEC 42001 standard is a landmark framework designed to help organizations develop, deploy, and manage AI systems responsibly. It moves beyond abstract ethical principles to provide a concrete, auditable management system that embeds accountability throughout the entire AI lifecycle, from initial design and data handling to deployment and continuous monitoring.

At its core, the standard requires organizations to establish a formal AIMS, systematically identify and mitigate AI-specific risks—such as algorithmic bias, security vulnerabilities, and a lack of transparency—and ensure meaningful human oversight. For a high-stakes industry like financial services, where AI models are used for everything from credit scoring to fraud detection, the implications of such a standard are profound. It provides a structured methodology for building trust with regulators, partners, and consumers by demonstrating a proactive approach to managing the inherent complexities and potential harms of AI technology.

Achieving this certification is not a one-time checkmark but a commitment to an ongoing process. It mandates continuous improvement, regular risk assessments, and a governance structure that ensures AI systems operate safely, ethically, and in alignment with both organizational objectives and societal values. This provides a crucial layer of assurance in a field where opaque, “black box” algorithms have often been a source of concern.

Navigating the Rising Tide of AI Regulation

Perfios’s certification comes at a critical juncture, as governments and regulatory bodies across the globe intensify their scrutiny of artificial intelligence. The European Union’s landmark AI Act, which began its enforcement phase in 2024, categorizes many financial applications as “high-risk,” imposing strict obligations for data governance, transparency, risk management, and human oversight. Similarly, the influential AI Risk Management Framework (AI RMF) from the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides a detailed roadmap for building trustworthy AI, even if its adoption is voluntary.

By aligning with the ISO/IEC 42001 standard, companies like Perfios are not just preparing for this new wave of regulation but are actively getting ahead of it. The standard’s framework is designed to be compatible with these emerging legal requirements, offering a practical pathway to compliance. It enables organizations to translate broad regulatory principles into specific, actionable controls and processes, effectively future-proofing their AI strategies.

For Perfios's 1,000+ financial institution clients across 18 countries, this proactive stance on compliance is a significant value proposition. It provides them with the assurance that the AI-powered tools they integrate into their own operations are built on a foundation of internationally recognized best practices, thereby reducing their own regulatory and reputational risk.

Forging a Competitive Edge with Verifiable Trust

Founded in 2008, Perfios has established itself as an AI-powered operating system for the BFSI industry, offering over 75 products that shape everything from customer onboarding and underwriting to risk monitoring. The ISO/IEC 42001 certification directly bolsters the integrity of these core offerings.

• Decision Automation: For its AI-driven underwriting platforms, the certification provides verifiable assurance that the models are managed to mitigate bias and promote fairness, a critical requirement for equitable lending.
• Advanced Security: In the fight against fraud, its deepfake and liveness detection for Video KYC processes are now backed by a standard that validates their robustness and ethical management of sensitive biometric data.
• Risk Intelligence: The AI systems used for complex tasks like real-time shell-entity detection are governed by a framework that demands transparency and continuous performance monitoring, increasing their reliability in anti-money laundering (AML) efforts.

This commitment to verifiable governance serves as a powerful market differentiator. In a crowded FinTech landscape, the ability to prove responsible AI management can be the deciding factor for risk-averse financial institutions.

“Achieving ISO/IEC 42001:2023 reinforces our commitment to delivering AI that is not only innovative and scalable but also explainable, secure, and compliant with global ethical standards,” said Mohit Srivastava, CISO at Perfios, in the company's announcement. “This certification provides customers, partners, and regulators with the assurance that Perfios' AI-driven products meet the most stringent international requirements for safety and transparency.”

This certification adds to an already impressive stack of compliance credentials for the company, including ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, and others, which see it successfully undergo over 450 audits and due diligence reviews annually. This deep-seated culture of governance underscores that the adoption of the new AI standard is a natural extension of the company's core strategy. This move toward verifiable governance may prove to be the most critical step in ensuring that the future of finance is not only intelligent but also intrinsically trustworthy.