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Payment, fintech firms at new stage of AI maturity for financial crime, compliance

Wednesday, November 12, 2025 — 16:22:54 (UTC)

New Report: Payment and FinTech Firms Scale AI Adoption, with GenAI and Agentic AI Set to Automate Compliance Workflows

London, Nov. 12, 2025—Payment and FinTech firms are entering a new stage of artificial intelligence (AI) maturity for financial crime and compliance, moving from pilots and exploration to scaled implementation, according to new research from Hawk and Chartis Research.

Hawk, the leading provider of AI-powered fraud prevention, anti-money laundering (AML), and screening technology, partnered with Chartis to examine how payment and FinTech organizations are embedding AI into their financial crime and complianceframeworks.

The findings reveal that every firm surveyed is applying AI in some degree across key compliance functions, encouraged by the realization of a range of benefits, including increased detection accuracy, faster investigations, and cost savings.

Fast-Tracking AI into Production

The study, AI in Financial Crime and Compliance: Charting The Path from Pilot To Maturity, Payments Edition, shows that 94% of payment and FinTech firms are planning to increase AI investment over the next two years. Adoption of emerging AI capabilities is also accelerating: 88% expect to expand the use of GenAI and 84% anticipate new Agentic AI applications.

Phil Mackenzie, Research Director at Chartis, said: “Payment and FinTech firms have moved beyond questioning AI’s value in financial crime and compliance — they’re now focused on how to apply it at speed and scale. What’s also striking in these findings is the willingness to embrace newer forms of AI, as the benefits of detection accuracy and operational efficiency become clear.”

Efficiency, Accuracy Drive AI Wins

The majority of firms surveyed (73%) have already realized cost savings by implementing AI for AML. Nearly one-third of respondents report annual savings between $1 million and $4.9 million, with 30% expecting savings to surpass $5 million within the next year. Other significant benefits realized from AI adoption include improved detection accuracy and faster investigations, with 62% and 59% of firms, respectively, ranking them among their top two AI outcomes.

GenAI and Agentic AI Lead the Way

GenAI and Agentic AI are emerging as transformative forces in financial crime operations. FinTechs and payment firms view GenAI as a catalyst for efficiency, automating manual reviews and accelerating insight generation, while Agentic AI is expected to transform case investigations and SAR drafting.

Tobias Schweiger, CEO and Co-Founder of Hawk, added: “Payment and FinTech firms recognize AI as a significant growth enabler and are leading the way in turning AI from a concept into critical infrastructure. Their commitment to taking explainable AI for anti-financial crime and compliance and then testing, proving, and scaling is delivering levels of accuracy, transparency and efficiency that are quickly becoming the industry norm.”

Confidence Around AI Builds

The findings point to growing optimism around AI’s role in financial crime and compliance. Over one-third (68%) of respondents expect to expand their use of AI over the next two to three years, while 65% predict regulators will either become more supportive towards AI or will retain their positive stance. Rather than replacing human expertise, most respondents see AI as a lever to rebalance workloads and elevate analytical quality.

Payment, FinTechs and Banks Aligned in AI Optimism

In a companion report focused on AI in banking, Hawk and Chartis noted similar trends in the benefits and challenges of adopting AI in financial crime and compliance. Use cases and the future outlook for AI was also explored. To read more about the banking report, see here: insights.hawk.ai/chartis-path-to-ai-research-banking

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Source: Company press release.

Categories: Reports and research