A new study by Fenergo reveals that a majority of global financial institutions are actively adopting agentic AI to enhance their compliance operations.

Of the 90 professionals surveyed across asset management, corporate, investment, and commercial banking in the US and UK, 93% plan to implement agentic AI within the next two years, with 6% already using it. Institutions are prioritizing high-impact use cases, with fraud detection being the top application (cited by over one-third of respondents), followed by KYC maintenance and transaction monitoring. The technology is expected to significantly reduce manual workloads and speed up decision-making, with 26% of firms forecasting annual cost savings of over $4 million.

Despite the optimism, data privacy (44%) and regulatory challenges (36%) remain top concerns for U.S. firms considering agentic AI. Keith Redmond, Chief Product Officer at Fenergo, notes that outdated compliance processes and rising financial crime risks are pushing firms to modernize. He emphasizes that those who adopt agentic AI early will gain a strategic edge in preventing financial crime, improving operational efficiency, and enhancing client service.