The EU AI Act is here. August 2026 is your compliance deadline. Are you ready?The world's first comprehensive AI regulation isn't just another compliance checkbox. With penalties reaching €35M or 7% of global turnover, misinterpreting this framework is a strategic failure that boards cannot afford.Here's what makes this moment critical: we're witnessing a fundamental divergence in global AI governance. The EU has deployed a horizontal, prescriptive regulation with clear timelines and mandatory obligations. Meanwhile, the US continues with its vertical, sector-specific patchwork—a fragmented landscape of state laws and existing regulations applied case-by-case.For financial institutions operating across jurisdictions, this creates both complexity and opportunity. The EU's extra-territorial scope means that even US-headquartered firms fall under its jurisdiction if their AI systems affect EU citizens. The strategic questions are no longer theoretical:Which of your AI systems are classified as high-risk under Annex III? Credit scoring and insurance underwriting clearly fall within scope, but there's a critical exception many institutions are missing: AI systems for fraud detection are explicitly carved out from high-risk classification. This distinction has profound implications for your AML and transaction monitoring investments.How do you integrate the AI Act with GDPR and DORA? These three regulations form a compliance trinity that cannot be managed in silos. Your governance framework must address all three simultaneously.What are the 7 mandatory obligations for high-risk systems, and how do you implement them by August 2026? From risk management and data governance to human oversight and technical documentation, the requirements are substantial and time-sensitive.In my new 18-minute executive briefing, I provide a strategic framework for navigating this new era. This isn't a summary of headlines. It's a detailed analysis based exclusively on the official regulatory texts—the AI Act itself, the December 2024 US Treasury report, and BIS regulatory guidance.We dissect the phased implementation timeline from 2024 to 2027, reveal the critical fraud detection exception, and provide a 5-step classification framework to assess your AI inventory. Most importantly, we contrast the EU's approach with the US landscape to help you build a coherent, cross-jurisdictional compliance strategy.This is for experienced risk officers, compliance leaders, CTOs, and board members who need actionable intelligence, not generic overviews.#AI #AIAct #FinancialServices #RiskManagement #Compliance #RegTech #Banking #Insurance #FinTech #Governance #EURegulation #DigitalTransformation #Leadership #DavidPerron