# AI Access Control for Financial Firms: Who Sees What

> How an AI platform for a financial firm can respect folder permissions, so the AI only reads and cites documents the person asking may see.

Source: https://www.super-chain.tech/ai-access-control-for-financial-firms  
Last modified: 2026-11-05

ai access control

# Who sees what, when the AI is asking.

In an AI platform built for a financial firm, the AI should see what the person asking can see, and no more. In Super Chain, access is set on folders for a user, group or role, and sub-folders inherit it. A document someone cannot read is not listed, not searched and not given to the AI.
who sees what · stopping leaks · folder permissions · cases and tools · audit Written by [Cat Yung](https://www.super-cat.tech/cat-yung), Founder, Super Chain. Last updated 5 November 2026.

who sees what

## Who can see what *in an AI platform for a financial firm?*

The same people who could see the document without AI. The AI is one more way to read the firm’s files, so it should carry the asker’s permissions, not its own.
In Super Chain, permissions sit on folders. For each folder, a user, a group or a role can be given read only, read and write, or no access. Download is a separate right.
When rules overlap, the most specific one wins. A rule for the person beats a rule for their group. Within groups, a block beats an allow. A role rule applies last. Once a folder has rules, anyone they do not name has no access.
Firm administrators keep access to everything, so someone is always able to answer for the files.

stopping leaks

## How do you stop an AI assistant *showing a document to the wrong person?*

Check permissions before the AI reads anything, not after it answers. If the AI can read a file, it can quote it. So the search itself has to be limited to what the asker may open.
In Super Chain, the AI’s document search only covers documents the person asking can read. If the permission check cannot be completed, the search returns nothing rather than everything. Permissions are checked on every question, so removing someone’s access applies to their next search.

Set it once on a folder. Everyone below follows.

Org admin · Kestrel Partners
Document *Vault* Folder rules Vault open to the organization
Deals follows parent
Hyperion Series C follows parent
Auriga III follows parent
Family office follows parent
Monaco apartment follows parent
Operations follows parent

Folder access Deals
User Role Group
Analysts Read Write Download Allow Add grant
Current Grants group Analysts read allow
group Partners read · write · download allow

AD All documents 6 of 6

| Name | Type | Status | Uploaded |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Term sheet v3.pdf | Term sheet | Approved | 2 Nov |
| Cap table 2026-10.xlsx | XLSX | Approved | 31 Oct |
| LPA side letter.pdf | Agreement | Approved | 28 Oct |
| Northbank credit facility.pdf | Loan agreement | Approved | 27 Oct |
| Monaco apartment deed.pdf | Title deed | Approved | 19 Oct |
| Office lease renewal.pdf | Lease | Pending review | 4 Nov |

Summarise our Hyperion position and the Northbank facility terms.
Searched documents
**Hyperion Series C:** USD 4.0m at a USD 180m pre-money, 1x non-participating preference 1. Pro-rata on the next round 2.
I found nothing on a Northbank facility in the documents you can read.
**1** Term sheet v3.pdf · p.2 **2** Cap table 2026-10.xlsx · Summary

- Documents waiting for review.** A new upload that needs review is hidden from people who cannot review it, except the person who uploaded it. The AI only searches documents that have been reviewed.

- Files attached in chat.** A file someone attaches to a chat is private to them and the firm’s administrators. It joins the shared document vault only when its owner saves it to a folder.

- Files the AI writes.** A document the AI drafts stays in that person’s chat until they save it, so it does not appear in anyone else’s lists or searches.

folder permissions

## Can AI respect *folder permissions?*

Yes, when the folder rules are the same rules the search uses. In Super Chain there is one set of rules for the document list, for opening a file and for the AI.
A rule set on a folder flows down to every sub-folder below it, until a sub-folder has rules of its own. When someone first shares a sub-folder, it starts from a copy of the rules it inherited, so sharing adds people and does not quietly remove anyone.
No read access means the document does not exist for that person. It is not listed, not found by search and not given to the AI. Read and write on a folder lets someone manage that folder and what sits below it, but nothing above or beside it, and they can only share rights they hold themselves.

cases and tools

## What about client cases *and connected tools?*

The same idea applies to work that is not a folder: each person gets a level, and the AI acts at that level.

- Cases.** Each member of a client case is a viewer, an editor or the owner. Viewers read, editors also change the case, and only the owner or an administrator assigns people. A case document also needs folder access, so joining a case does not open a folder someone is barred from.

- Connected tools.** For each connector, such as a task tracker, an administrator can give a user, group or role read only, read and write, chosen tools, or no access. A tool someone may not use is not offered to the AI in their chat.

- Tool by tool.** Each AI tool can also be set to Allow, Ask or Never. Ask means the person approves the step before it runs.

audit and regulators

## How does a firm show *who saw what?*

With a record kept by the firm. In Super Chain every tool the AI calls passes through one permission check, and each call is written to an activity log with the user, the conversation and the result, including refusals.
A platform superadmin can view the product as a named user to check what they can see. That view is read-only, lasts at most 30 minutes, and is recorded in the audit log under the superadmin’s own name.
Regulators ask for this kind of control in general terms. In Hong Kong, Data Protection Principle 4 of the [PDPO](https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/cap486) requires practicable steps to protect personal data against unauthorised access, and the SFC’s [generative AI circular](https://apps.sfc.hk/edistributionWeb/gateway/EN/circular/intermediaries/supervision/doc?refNo=24EC55) names the risk of confidential information leaking.
In the UK, [Article 32 of the UK GDPR](https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2016/679/article/32) asks for security suited to the risk, including against unauthorised access. In the US, [Regulation S-P](https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-17/chapter-II/part-248/subpart-A/section-248.30) requires written policies that protect customer information from unauthorised access or use.

where super chain fits

## Where does Super Chain *fit?*

Super Chain is a private AI platform for investment and wealth firms, family offices and brokers. Its permissions, review rules and audit log are part of the platform, not an add-on. The firm still decides who should see what; we set it up with the firm’s owner during the pilot. The [trust and security page](https://www.super-chain.tech/trust) sets out the architecture, and [five controls for using AI safely](https://www.super-chain.tech/protect-family-office-data-when-using-ai) sets out the order of decisions.

who it is for

## Who this is for, *and who it isn’t.*

This guide is for COOs, compliance officers and principals at investment and wealth firms, family offices and brokers who want staff to use AI on client files without widening who can see them.
It is not a full access-review programme. Joiner and leaver processes, device security and email controls sit outside it, and the firm needs those whether or not it uses AI.

delivery

## How Super Chain is put in place, *and who does what.*

- i **Plan.** A 30-minute call sets the plan: one owner, the first workflow, and where Super Chain will run: the office’s private cloud or its own servers.

- ii **Deploy.** Our team installs Super Chain on that infrastructure and configures roles, document permissions and the model the office chooses.

- iii **Load and check.** The office loads that vehicle’s documents, not a tidied sample. We review the first answers with the owner against the cited pages.

- iv **Use.** The team asks real questions of its own documents. Every query is recorded in an audit log the office holds.

Super Chain is accountable for the platform and its configuration. The office remains accountable for which documents go in, who may see them, and the terms of the model provider it chooses.

// what can go wrong

- Folder rules in the firm today are untidy.** We map the current folders and who should see them with the owner before any document is loaded.

- A person sees too much or too little.** The administrator can check a named user’s access and change the folder rule; the change applies to the next question.

- Review queues slow things down.** The firm chooses which document types need review; the rest are available once uploaded by someone allowed to upload.

- Daily use differs from the pilot.** We measure on the firm’s real questions and report the numbers as they are.

// track record
Super Chain is built by Super Cat Technology. The same team built a [fully on-premise retrieval system for a Big 4 firm](https://www.super-cat.tech/portfolio/enterprise-rag-big-4), where every answer returns with its source paragraph.

read next

## Related *reading.*

Trust and security →
How Super Chain is deployed, isolated and audited.
Five controls for using AI safely →
Custody, scope, access, audit and vendor terms, in order.
How Super Chain works →
From a question to a cited answer, step by step.
Your AI plan in 30 minutes →
Where AI fits in your firm, what to keep out, and where it should run.

questions

## The questions offices ask, *plainly answered.*

### Who can see what in an AI platform for a financial firm?

Whoever the firm’s rules allow, and the AI follows the same rules. In Super Chain, an administrator, or someone who manages a folder, gives a user, group or role read, write or no access. Sub-folders inherit the rule. When someone asks a question, the AI only searches the documents that person can read.

### How do you stop an AI assistant showing a document to someone who should not see it?

Make the AI search as the person asking. In Super Chain the document search only covers what the asker can read, and it returns nothing if the permission check cannot be completed. Documents waiting for review and private chat uploads are kept out of other people’s answers.

### Can AI respect folder permissions?

Yes, if permissions are checked inside the search rather than after the answer. In Super Chain a folder rule flows down to every sub-folder. A document someone has no read access to is not listed, not found by search and not given to the AI, so it cannot be quoted to them.

### Can an administrator check what a colleague can see?

Yes. A platform superadmin can view the product as a named user to check their access. The view is read-only: it cannot change, download or export anything. It lasts at most 30 minutes, and the start, each request and the end are written to the audit log under the superadmin’s own name.

### Is every AI action recorded?

Every tool the AI calls goes through one permission check, and each call is written to an activity log with the user, the conversation and the result, including calls that were refused. The firm can read that log to answer who asked what, and which documents the answer drew on.

To see the AI answer two colleagues differently from the same folders, Book your 30-minute AI implementation plan →

// the next step

## Your AI implementation plan, in 30 minutes

A 30-minute call with our team. We look at where your firm uses AI today, which documents and systems it would touch, and where it should run. You leave with a plan: what to start with, what to keep out, and which deployment fits. It is free.
Choose a time below. If you would rather see the platform first, [book a private demonstration](https://calendly.com/super-chain/catyung?utm_source=super-chain.tech&utm_campaign=private-demonstration&utm_content=ai-access-control-for-financial-firms).

[Open the scheduler →](https://calendly.com/super-chain/catyung?utm_source=super-chain.tech&utm_campaign=ai-implementation-plan&utm_content=ai-access-control-for-financial-firms)