The Unleashing AI Innovation in Financial Services Act (H.R. 4801, 119th Congress) is a bipartisan, bicameral bill that would "promote Artificial Intelligence (AI) in financial services through regulatory sandboxes for AI test projects at federal financial regulatory agencies." It was introduced on July 30, 2025 by House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill (R-AR), Rep. Richie Torres (D-NY), Rep. Bryan Steil (R-WI) and Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), with Senators Mike Rounds (R-SD), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) (Source: financialservices.house.gov).
Status and legislative history
The committee states that Hill and Torres first introduced the bill in the 118th Congress, with Senators Rounds and Heinrich, on August 5, 2024 (Source: financialservices.house.gov). Inside AI Policy reported that the House Financial Services Committee passed Hill's bill 33–19 on May 13, 2026, describing it as creating regulatory "sandboxes" that give financial-sector AI tools limited liability protection during testing, amid splits over the sandbox approach (Source: insideaipolicy.com).
Key provisions
As described by its sponsors, the bill would require federal financial regulatory agencies to let the companies they oversee experiment with AI through regulatory sandboxes, which Torres described as "AI Innovation Labs, giving regulators a safe and structured way to engage with cutting-edge technologies." Rounds described the aim as "a controlled environment where new financial products and services that use AI can be tested," and tied it to the administration's AI Action Plan, which the release says "highlighted the importance of enabling AI adoption through regulatory sandboxes" (Source: financialservices.house.gov). Gottheimer said the bill "will allow for experimentation while putting guardrails in place to strengthen consumer protections" (Source: financialservices.house.gov).
Reactions
A September 2026 Center for American Progress report groups the July 2025 draft with the May 2025 draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act as proposals that "similarly contemplate waiver authority for regulated financial firms and raise many of the same concerns as the SANDBOX Act" (The SANDBOX Act Uses AI Policy as a Trojan Horse for Unfettered Deregulation (Center for American Progress, September 2026)). Inside AI Policy noted that CAP's opposition to sandbox bills runs against Gottheimer's sponsorship of financial-services sandbox legislation (Source: insideaipolicy.com).
Relationships
- instance-of: AI Regulatory Sandbox
- related: SANDBOX Act (S. 2750) — cross-sector Senate counterpart administered by OSTP
- related: Financial Services — AI Deployment — sector the bill addresses
- related: Josh Gottheimer — co-lead sponsor
- related: The SANDBOX Act Uses AI Policy as a Trojan Horse for Unfettered Deregulation (Center for American Progress, September 2026) — critique grouping the bill with the SANDBOX Act