AML Investigations FIS Now, Agent is commercially available to U.S. banks, which means financial institutions can streamline investigations and reduce compliance costs. The solution was developed by FIS with support from Anthropic and design partner Amalgamated Bank. The agent integrates the banking, payments and data infrastructure to solve complicated anti-money laundering (AML) compliance challenges. Moreover, this is the first solution in FIS’ roadmap of AI agents for banking.
Financial institutions are under increasing pressure to investigate suspicious transactions but also to control their operating costs. LexisNexis (2023) claims that U.S. financial institutions spend around $35 billion to $40 billion annually on anti-money laundering operations. AnChain.AI (2025) says analysts spend some 40 to 60 percent of their investigation time gathering data before they even begin to analyze it. Datos Insights (2023) has also found that false-positive rates in the industry are in the range of 90 to 95 percent. Therefore, investigation teams have to wade through a large volume of alerts in search of potentially suspicious activity. This wastes valuable resources and delays deeper investigations.
This is the challenge FIS seeks to solve with AI-powered financial crime compliance. The AML Investigations Agent supports analysts in collecting evidence and organizing information more efficiently, not replacing them. This means investigators can spend more time on complex cases requiring experience and professional judgment. Based on Amalgamated Bank’s analysis of its investigation workflows and the agent’s expected capabilities, the solution could substantially reduce investigation workloads. Reviews for Level 1 alerts could take 90 percent less time. About 98 percent of Level 2 case investigations could be eliminated. At the same time, SAR narrative preparation time could be cut by over 80 percent.
Such anticipated gains could free up investigative resources for higher priority cases at banks. And faster evidence collection could allow for more efficient AML compliance operations without removing human supervision.
“Investigations don’t slow down because analysts lack judgment. They slow down because evidence is scattered across systems and every alert gets treated the same,” said Stan Szwalbenest, Head of Enterprise Fraud and Financial Crimes, FIS. “By bringing together the core, payments and data these investigations rely on, FIS gives analysts a head start while keeping them in control of every decision.”
Customer-Specific Context Improves Investigation Quality
When reviewing alerts, the FIS AML Investigations Agent takes into account customer-specific information. It doesn’t treat every alert the same but searches for customer profiles, historical transactions and expected financial behavior. It then gathers relevant evidence and generates summaries that are representative of the customer’s circumstances. For example, seasonal increases in deposits of cash may be a result of normal business cycles. But deliberately keeping deposits below federal reporting thresholds may be a sign of suspicious activity. For instance, a standard international wire transfer may be quite different from an unexplained cross-border wire transfer involving a high-risk jurisdiction.
The agent even detects these differences and explains its reasoning in front of investigators. This provides analysts with context for each alert before they act on it. This approach means financial crime investigations can be more informed. It also helps investigators to prioritize suspicious activity rather than spend too much time reviewing routine transactions. But analysts do have a responsibility to evaluate recommendations and determine what the appropriate next steps are.
Accountable AI and Robust Governance Controls
AML Investigations Agent was developed by FIS on its Trust Assured framework. This framework incorporates governance, compliance and responsible AI practices into FIS products. Importantly, the solution remains transparent throughout the whole investigation process. Each output is connected to its underlying record, document or check image. Also, the system collects recommendations, rationale and final decisions of analysts. This documentation offers a full audit trail for internal reviews and regulatory examinations.
The FIS Control Plane also isolates the risk logic, investigation procedures and thresholds for each institution. This governance layer controls access to institution-specific agents, controls, and configurations. Moreover, the agent is a complement to existing transaction monitoring platforms and case management systems. They can retain their existing infrastructure but add AI-powered investigative support.
The solution natively integrates with FIS Horizon and FIS Systematics, two of FIS’ core banking platforms. FIS IBS is also planned for a future product roadmap update.
FIS and Amalgamated Bank Highlight Human Oversight
“AML investigations require comprehensive evidence and experienced judgment. The FIS AML Investigations Agent can reduce time spent gathering information and preparing documentation, allowing investigators to focus on complex cases and critical decisions. Each recommendation has a clear audit trail, while the investigator remains accountable for the final determination. In regulated environments, AI must strengthen human expertise while preserving trust and governance,” said Sean Searby, Chief Information & Operations Officer, Amalgamated Bank.
Anthropic Collaboration Supports Future Banking AI Solutions
FIS developed and owns the AML Investigations Agent and Anthropic supports it. An Anthropic team partnered with FIS product and compliance teams throughout the development process. The partnership leveraged FIS’ relationships with financial institutions, regulatory expertise and transaction data infrastructure and Anthropic’s AI capabilities. The partnership also established evaluation frameworks and engineering practices for building future AI agents. FIS intends to use those resources to build and scale additional solutions on the same governed platform.
The AML Investigations Agent is run in FIS’ private cloud and uses Anthropic’s Claude models. This architecture is part of FIS’ wider strategy to use AI for banking operations while keeping governance and accountability intact. The commercial launch brings an AI-powered tool for financial crime investigations to U.S. banks. FIS’ ultimate goal is to help institutions cut down on manual workloads, improve the investigation process and manage increasing AML compliance requirements.
Banks interested in exploring the solution can request a tailored demonstration or connect with an FIS specialist through the FIS Data and AI Platform page or contact an FIS representative.
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News Source: Businesswire.com
