Where Banks Are Using AI in Financial Crime & Compliance Today

Where Banks Are Using AI in Financial Crime & Compliance Today

Banks are embracing AI - that is the number one finding of our latest research with Chartis. 91% of the compliance and risk leaders that we surveyed said that their institution encourages AI use, while 70% said that AI was being tested or piloted in their organization.

The report, AI in Financial Crime and Compliance: Charting the Path from Pilot to Maturity, provides insight into current and future use of AI in banks' FCC function. 

→ Download the Banking Edition here  
→ Download the Payment & FinTech Edition here 
 

How would you characterize AI Adoption?

 

How AI is used across financial crime & compliance 

When compliance and risk leaders ranked their current AI usage across five different areas of FCC, fraud prevention emerged as the clear frontrunner: 

  • 33% are using AI at scale or operationally in fraud prevention
  • 32% are testing or piloting AI in fraud prevention
  • 28% are exploring AI for fraud prevention
  • 0% of banks reported no AI usage in anti-fraud programs 

AML transaction monitoring follows as the second most mature area, with 22% reporting operational or at-scale deployment. Sanctions screening stands at 16%, while case management and investigations trail at 12%. 

AI maturity varies significantly across FCC, with regulatory reporting lagging furthest behind. Only 9% of banks actively use AI in regulatory reporting, while 17% do not use it at all. This represents the highest rate of non-adoption across all FCC areas. 

At the same time, regulatory reporting shows the highest level of informal AI use: 31% of institutions we surveyed said individuals use AI on an ad hoc basis. 

 

Which AI techniques different FCC functions use

 

Which AI techniques are being used?

 

Machine learning (ML) remains the foundation technology across the FCC function: 

  • 75% use machine learning  in case management and investigations
  • 66% apply machine learning to fraud prevention
  • 65% deploy it for AML transaction monitoring 

Natural language processing ranks second, with strong adoption in case management and investigations (61%) and regulatory reporting (52%). 

Although generative AI is still emerging, 48% of banks already apply it to fraud prevention, with sanctions screening and AML monitoring close behind at 44% each. 

Agentic AI is still in its early stages, but it is already gaining traction in case management and investigations, with 21% of banks reporting active deployment. 

 

Banks expect strong impact from AI technologies

 

What impact will these AI techniques have?

 

Compliance and risk leaders are optimistic about the future of AI in FCC.  

86% expect machine learning to have a positive impact on financial crime, fraud and compliance over the next 2-3 years. Expectations for generative AI are similarly high, with 83% predicting positive outcomes.  

Agentic AI, the technology at the earliest point in its adoption curve, is also expected to deliver a positive impact with 76% of respondents expressing optimism for the value it will bring.  

→ Read the full Banking Edition here 
→ Read the full Payment & FinTech Edition here  

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