Monday, 30 March 2026 - Chartis Research has named SAS a category leader in the Chartis RiskTech Quadrant® for AI Governance Solutions. Among the 28 vendors it examined in the quadrant – part of a larger assessment of the governance, resilience and compliance solutions market – Chartis also recognised SAS as best-in-class in the model management and workflow categories.
 
“The SAS Viya platform includes leading governance capabilities that extend classic machine learning, model risk management, explainability, bias detection, privacy protection and end-to-end monitoring to the broader enterprise AI environment,” said Michael Versace, Research Director for Governance, Resilience and Compliance at Chartis. “By combining these capabilities with its deep expertise in regulated industries, SAS is in a position to demonstrate AI as a growth strategy for clients and prospects.” 

Best-in-class and advanced capabilities
 

AI governance enables firms to systematically expand their AI capabilities while embedding safety, ethics, data quality and operational resilience into business workflows and decisions. 

SAS® Viya®, the company’s data and AI platform, helps customers ensure that AI systems are reliable, explainable and human-centred through built-in trustworthy AI controls, bias detection and human-in-the-loop oversight at every critical decision point. 

“AI governance isn’t a compliance exercise – it's a competitive advantage,” said Stu Bradley, Senior Vice President of Risk, Fraud and Compliance Solutions at SAS. “When organisations get it right, they move faster, they build deeper trust and they get in front of risk instead of reacting to it. Chartis’ latest recognition reflects what our customers already know: with SAS, governance is built in, not bolted on.” 

As noted in the Chartis Vendor Spotlight, SAS earned category leadership in AI governance on the strength of SAS Viya and a robust solutions portfolio purpose-built for regulated industries. Per the Vendor Spotlight, SAS’ best-in-class and advanced capabilities include: 

Best-in-class

    Model management – SAS’ model risk management (MRM) expertise is a foundational pillar of its AI governance strategy, underpinning a forward-thinking approach to AI model risk at all stages of use and implementation. SAS Viya’s lifecycle monitoring detects drift, automates documentation and triggers retraining in support of customers’ compliance needs. Audit trails and interpretability tools help organisations respond to changing regulatory demands, crucial in banking and financial services.
    Workflow – The SAS platform supports unified workflows to assist in the management of AI models, with a focus on automating governance tasks. These structured pipelines enhance data visibility and accelerate decision-making, while enforcing checkpoint and compliance gates. 

Advanced

    Governance – SAS’ governance capabilities actively help firms mitigate AI and model risks, enabling automated enforcement of AI-risk frameworks and regulations. Human oversight provides accountability via explainability checkpoints and reviews throughout the lifecycle.
    Data management – SAS’ data management capabilities emphasise data privacy and protection, visibility and benchmarking/mapping, while SAS Viya's unified platform handles structured/unstructured data with audit trails. Tools such as SAS Data Maker generate synthetic data for secure testing, helping users mitigate risks.
    Visualisation/Dashboarding – SAS Viya provides auditable reports, traceability dashboards and explainability tools designed to detail agentic AI decision-making. This visibility strengthens stakeholder trust. The solution also supports human-in-the-loop oversight to help firms clarify and troubleshoot complex outcomes and problems, facilitate their compliance with AI regulations, and assist in regulatory reporting.
    Model coverage – SAS Viya supports a broad range of model types, including traditional machine learning, GenAI, large language models (LLMs) and agentic systems. Customers can use Viya to establish an enterprise inventory and control environment for AI, extending governance to models via tools for transparency, accuracy, fairness and lifecycle tracking.

 What is AI governance? 

AI governance is an all-encompassing strategy that establishes AI oversight, ensures compliance, and develops consistent operations and infrastructure within an organisation. It also fosters a human-centric culture and promotes AI transparency and accountability. 

Strong AI governance builds trust with customers, regulators and internal stakeholders such as boards of directors and employees. Organisations with robust AI governance frameworks are better positioned to strengthen trust in AI-driven decisions and confidently manage AI risks. Without AI governance, organisations face possible legal penalties, reputational damage from biased or opaque AI decisions, operational inefficiencies, and lack of stakeholder trust in AI. 

How SAS supports AI governance 

With decades of governance experience, SAS supports AI governance with capabilities embedded throughout SAS Viya and in a comprehensive product portfolio for all areas of governance, risk and compliance. Users can perform model risk management (MRM), model interpretability, bias detection and mitigation, data masking and more.

SAS AI Navigator, coming next quarter, helps organisations gain full visibility and control of their AI usage. It centralises information about models, agents and use cases; includes assessments; and enables governance and responsible adoption. 

SAS AI Governance Manager supports highly regulated industries like banking and insurance. It enables enterprise-grade compliance through integrated governance, policy controls, MRM and model deployment. 

Technology and industry leadership 

This AI governance rating is only the latest recognition for SAS from Chartis. Others include:

    SAS placed No. 2 overall in the Chartis RiskTech100® 2026, the world’s most prestigious risk management technology rankings.
    In the RiskTech100®, SAS won in seven solution awards categories: AI for banking, balance sheet risk management, behavioural modeling, capital optimisation, enterprise stress testing, IFRS 9 and MRM.
    Chartis named SAS a category leader in all six quadrants of its analysis of the asset and liability management (ALM) market.
    Chartis recognised SAS as a category leader in seven separate sectors of the credit risk management market. 

Strong governance is the key to unlocking AI’s full potential while minimising risk. For a clear, practical roadmap to innovate confidently and responsibly, download the free SAS e-book, How to govern your AI strategy in a highly regulated world.