ICBC president suggests treating AI as 'quasi-human legal entity' in financial governance

Liu Jun, president of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, said at the “Financial AI Governance” roundtable of the 2026 Bund Annual Meeting that commercial banks are moving toward AI transformation and face an “identity dilemma” over whether AI is a subject or an object. He proposed that AI could be considered a “quasi-human legal entity” and placed within the same financial governance framework as human market participants.

By using unified mechanisms, data traceability and systemic risk identification, Liu said, behavior attribution and accountability boundaries can be clarified when AI is involved in financial activities.