How we cut AML investigation time from months to hours with AI agents
An AI-native AML agent cuts investigation time from months to hours, delivering 100% accuracy and multi-million euro savings within weeks
Nearform recently partnered with the financial services arm of a state-owned service provider to build an AI-native Anti-Money Laundering (AML) investigation agent. The solution was designed to eliminate manual bottlenecks, improve consistency and scale compliance without adding headcount.
As is typical within financial services, the client had already made significant investment in their existing systems. We wanted to realise the value of that investment, rather than simply replacing it. As such, we delivered a targeted AI solution that unlocked the value of what was already there - turning months of manual backlog into just hours of automated process, with 100% explainability.
The challenge
The client’s financial services division had hit an operational wall. A newly-implemented Oracle FCCM system was doing exactly what it was designed to do: identifying potential financial crime conditions and flagging risks. The problem was the sheer volume of alerts.
With a limited number of AML specialists on the team, the influx of flagged cases created a crippling bottleneck. The numbers simply didn’t stack up:
- Every individual case required 15 to 25 minutes of manual, tedious investigation.
- A single batch of 5,000 cases meant staring down 125 working days of manual processing.
- Reviews relied on fragmented web searches and inconsistent analyst workflows.
- Output consistency hovered at 85%, creating unwanted regulatory risk and audit complexity.
Hiring their way out of the problem wasn’t viable. Scaling the team to meet the demand would require an army of new analysts, driving up costs while failing to address the root inefficiency. The team faced a growing backlog, severe burnout risk and mounting regulatory pressure. Something was going to break.
Our solution
The team spoke to 11 different vendors. Most pitched bloated, multi-year platform replacements. We took a radically different path.
Nearform’s philosophy is simple: don’t replace what’s already working. Fix the constraint. Instead of proposing a massive platform overhaul, we focused entirely on the most painful friction point in the system - manual investigation and the endless slog of resolving false positives.
We designed and delivered an AI-native AML investigation agent, which focused on automated screening and false positive detection and was built to strengthen analysts rather than sideline them.
In six weeks, a four-person Nearform team delivered a production-ready proof of concept, which worked securely inside the company’s regulated environment and within its existing technology ecosystem. The agent was trained by Nearform on synthetic data, and then tested by the client on real case data, matching human analysts with 100% accuracy while providing clear, auditable reasoning for every recommendation.
In one live batch, it processed 847 cases in under two hours - work that would have taken a human team close to a year to complete. Just as importantly, the operating model stayed exactly where it needed to: the agent made recommendations, and people made decisions.
The AI agent executed complex investigative tasks in milliseconds:
- Automatically researching flagged individuals across multiple digital sources.
- Cross-referencing identity attributes, including names, dates of birth, imagery and any additional details that can help rule in or rule out a match.
- Detecting false positives and backing up findings with clear, explainable reasoning.
- Generating structured, highly accurate recommendations for analysts to review.
The transformed workflow unfolds seamlessly: beginning with upload, followed by validation, then queuing, before moving into AI-led investigation. From there, it progresses through match assessment and ultimately concludes with analyst review.
Crucially, the system maintains a strict human-in-the-loop design. The agent does the heavy lifting, but the final decision always rests with an expert human analyst, ensuring full auditability and consistent decision-making across every single case.
The results
We never simply talk AI, we prove it, quickly, and inside the client’s environment. The outcomes speak for themselves:
Massive time compression
A batch of 847 cases was processed in under two hours. To put that in perspective, the equivalent work would have taken a human team approximately one year.
Flawless validation accuracy
The AI agent matched human analysts’ outcomes exactly. It correctly identified both true risks and false positives with 100% accuracy and full explainability.
Elimination of false positive bottlenecks
By compressing dozens of manual clicks and cross-checks into milliseconds, the agent removed the single biggest friction point in the client’s AML workflow.
Infinitely scalable compliance
Instead of needing to hire close to 30 additional staff, which could have cost around €2 million annually, the organisation can now scale its investigation capacity on demand through AI.
Immediate ROI
The solution was designed to pay for itself within weeks, unlocking multi-million euro savings over its lifecycle.
Why it worked
The real challenge wasn’t proving that artificial intelligence could parse data faster than a human. We had to prove that it could operate effectively inside a highly regulated, legacy-heavy, semi-state organisation.
We succeeded because we demonstrated that AI can thrive within strict regulatory constraints, and that legacy systems can be extended rather than replaced. We bypassed the hype and delivered tangible, valuable outcomes in just six weeks.
Following the success of this initial deployment, the client has now greenlit further investment in AI agent development, expanding our work into transaction monitoring and broader AML workflows. They’ve also rolled out internal AI workshops across their business units.
At an internal showcase attended by 300 mid-level managers, the AML team demonstrated the AI agent using a live batch of real cases. In under two hours, the agent correctly identified risks, generated recommendations and provided full explainability.
This project proves what happens when AI isn’t treated as an excuse for a massive platform shift, but as a precision tool to eradicate friction from critical enterprise workflows.
Our capabilities
AI & Data
AI agent development
Human-in-the-loop AI design
Synthetic data training
Compliance & Risk
Anti-Money Laundering (AML) solutions
Regulatory-compliant AI deployment
Audit-ready decision documentation
Sounds interesting? We can help your business achieve the same.
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