Bain · Financial Services / Risk Management · Advanced · 35-45 min

Design an AI governance and risk framework for a global bank

Design an AI governance and risk framework for a global bank is an advanced Bain financial services / risk management case interview that runs 35-45 min. Define governance structures, oversight processes, and risk controls that satisfy regulators while allowing rapid model deployment. A strong answer works through 5 phases: Regulatory landscape and requirements; Model validation and testing processes; Monitoring and anomaly detection; Governance structure and roles; Training and accountability.

Last updated 2026-09-05

The brief

A global bank is deploying AI and GenAI models across lending, fraud detection, and customer service. Regulators have signaled concern about model transparency, bias, and accountability. Design a governance framework that addresses regulatory expectations while enabling innovation at scale.

How to approach it

  1. Regulatory landscape and requirements
  2. Model validation and testing processes
  3. Monitoring and anomaly detection
  4. Governance structure and roles
  5. Training and accountability

What a strong answer does

  • Define governance structures, oversight processes, and risk controls that satisfy regulators while allowing rapid model deployment.
  • Establish an AI governance office, define model approval and monitoring processes, implement bias testing and explainability requirements, and create escalation protocols for anomalies and model drift.

Practice drills

  • Outline the approval process for deploying a new lending model.
  • Design how to detect and respond to model bias in production.
  • Map governance responsibilities across business, tech, and compliance.
  • Estimate the cost of implementing comprehensive AI governance.

Why this case

Tests ability to balance innovation with risk management, understand regulatory context, and design scalable governance processes.

Adapted from Bain Risk & Compliance case (official sample).

Cases are written in each firm's style, written and reviewed by working consultants; they are not the firms' own published cases.

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