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Amalgamated Bank Helps Pioneer AI-Powered Financial Crime Investigations, Bringing New Technology to the Banking Industry
Bank’s work as a design partner with FIS, with support from leading AI innovator, helps advance a new approach to anti-money laundering compliance, with potential to dramatically reduce investigation times
Key Facts:
- Amalgamated Bank serves as key design partner to FIS in developing an AI-powered solution that modernizes anti-money laundering (AML) investigations. The technology is now commercially available to U.S.-based banks.
- The FIS AML Investigations Agent is designed to reduce manual compliance workloads while maintaining human oversight, allowing investigators to focus on complex cases and critical decisions. Its broader availability demonstrates how innovation developed with input from Amalgamated, a design partner, can help advance financial crime compliance across the banking industry.
NEW YORK, October 15, 2026 – Amalgamated Bank today announced a major milestone in its longstanding relationship with FIS, the Bank’s core provider, as the FIS AML Investigations Agent moves to deployment at Amalgamated Bank and becomes commercially available to U.S.-based banks.
Working with FIS as a design partner and frontier AI developers, Amalgamated helped shape a solution designed to address one of banking’s most labor-intensive compliance challenges: the manual processes involved in investigating potentially suspicious financial activity.
The agent assembles relevant financial data, analyzes customer activity and prepares evidence-backed investigation summaries while maintaining human oversight. Every recommendation is supported by an auditable record, and investigators retain authority over final decisions. Designed to complement banks’ existing compliance systems, the technology aims to improve efficiency without compromising the accountability and governance essential to financial crime investigations.
“AML investigations require comprehensive evidence and experienced judgment. The FIS AML Investigations Agent reduces 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 and Operations Officer, Amalgamated Bank.
Based on Amalgamated Bank’s analysis of its current workflows against the agent’s capabilities, the technology is projected to reduce initial alert review time by more than 90%, deeper case investigation time by approximately 98%, and suspicious activity report (SAR) narrative preparation time by more than 80%. This could allow investigators to spend less time gathering information and preparing documentation and more time evaluating complex cases requiring human expertise.
“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.”
With the technology now commercially available to U.S.-based banks, and being deployed at Amalgamated, the bank’s involvement as a design partner demonstrates how financial institutions can help inform the development of emerging technologies to address industry-wide challenges. The collaboration reflects the bank’s continued focus on advancing responsible innovation that strengthens operations while preserving human judgment central to banking and regulatory compliance.
About Amalgamated Bank
Amalgamated Financial Corp. is a Delaware public benefit corporation and bank holding company. Founded in 1923 by the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, it provides commercial banking and trust services through Amalgamated Bank, a New York-based commercial bank and chartered trust company with offices or branches in New York City, Washington, D.C., Northern California, and Boston. The Bank is a member of the Global Alliance for Banking on Values and a certified B Corporation®.
Media Contact:
Ayele Ajavon
Head of Communications
Amalgamated Bank
