by Karin Yuklea
4 minutes • AML • August 5, 2025
Turning Compliance into Profit: How AML Solutions Deliver ROI
Financial institutions spend billions annually on anti-money laundering (AML) compliance. A recent survey from Juniper Research projects spending on AML systems will reach $28.7 billion by 2028.1 However, a paradigm shift is underway: innovative AML solutions are turning compliance from a cost center into a driver of savings and efficiency, delivering measurable returns on investment.
Key Takeaways
- Traditional legacy AML systems are often hindered by outdated workflows, resulting in unneeded investigations, strained resources, and delaying identification of genuine threats.
- Key inefficiencies include higher false positives, manual SAR filing, and drawn-out review processes.
- These issues threaten to harm both customer experiences and compromise revenues.
- Meanwhile, industry-leading Intelligent AML Solutions can deliver an ROI of $5.30 for every dollar spent.
- Intelligent AML solutions deliver a strong ROI by reducing false positives, streamlining SAR filing, and automating everyday compliance tasks.
Why Traditional AML Systems Struggle to Deliver ROI
Legacy AML systems, heavily reliant on manual processes, create significant operational inefficiencies and compliance risks. These systems often lead to unmanageable backlogs, human error, and alert fatigue, which can overwhelm compliance teams.
Inefficiencies in Legacy AML Systems
- Traditional AML systems generate a high volume of false positives, causing substantial operational strain and unnecessary investigations. This not only increases costs but also delays the identification of genuine threats.
- Manual processes for alert review, case management, and drafting Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) are time-consuming and prone to human error. Investigators often spend significant time cross-referencing data from multiple sources, further reducing efficiency.
- Manual reviews delay transaction processing, which negatively impacts customer experience and can result in lost revenue opportunities.
Rising Costs of AML Compliance
- According to a Liminal report, expenditures on AML transaction monitoring programs have risen by 23% in recent years. This increase is largely driven by the high cost of manual review processes.
- The inefficiency of traditional systems forces financial institutions to allocate substantial resources to compliance operations, including hiring additional staff and investing in training, to manage false positives and other operational challenges.
The Need for Modernization
The inefficiencies and rising costs associated with legacy AML systems highlight the urgent need for modernization. Adopting advanced technologies like AI/ML-enabled solutions can help reduce false positives, streamline investigations, and improve overall compliance efficiency. By automating repetitive tasks and implementing purpose-built platforms, financial institutions can mitigate risks while enhancing operational performance.
Top 18 Vendors for AML Transaction Monitoring
Learn why Feedzai’s AML Solution ‘Exceptional’ in Several Categories in the Liminal Link™ Index.
How Intelligent AML Maximizes ROI Through Automation and Accuracy
According to Liminal’s report, leading AML solutions can generate a substantial return on investment, often producing a return of $5.30 for every dollar spent. That’s the power of AML solutions that leverage AI and machine learning to automate and optimize key processes—FIs get significant cost savings and operational improvements.
Let’s examine the potential ROI further.
FIs Save Up to $37M/year by Implementing Intelligent Transaction Monitoring Solutions
How Intelligent AML Drives ROI: 5 Key Bottom-Line Benefits
Intelligent AML solutions do more than mitigate common legacy system pain points. They also open new opportunities for banks and financial institutions to strengthen their bottom lines. Here’s how:
- Reducing False Positives: Lowering false positives means fewer resources are dedicated to manual reviews, and more focus is on mitigating real risks.
- Delivering Return on Investment: Higher ROI and cost savings directly impact the bottom line, providing an opportunity for better financial planning and allocation.
- Automating Manual Tasks: Automating repetitive compliance tasks leads to a more efficient team focusing on higher-value activities.
- Revamping Case Investigation and SAR Filing: Streamlined case investigation and SAR drafting ensures compliance obligations are met efficiently without overburdening staff.
- Enhancing Customer Experience: Modern AML solutions streamline processes like payment processing and customer onboarding, leading to a smoother, faster, and more positive customer experience. This can result in increased customer satisfaction and loyalty, directly impacting the bottom line through improved retention and potential revenue growth.
Delivering ROI for AML
Incorporating an AI-powered AML transaction monitoring system helps financial institutions stay compliant and provides measurable ROI through significant cost reductions and enhanced operational efficiency. By reducing false positives, automating SAR drafting, and minimizing manual review times, these enhanced AML solutions bring tangible returns that benefit multiple facets of financial organizations—from compliance and risk management to finance and operations. Enhanced efficiency also reduces errors and backlogs that can result in compliance deficiencies.
Adopting these technologies is critical in addressing regulatory requirements and the bottom line, ensuring that financial institutions are compliant, operationally sound, and financially efficient.
Resources
Frequently Asked Questions About ROI for Anti-Money Laundering Solutions
What is intelligent AML?
Intelligent Anti-Money Laundering, also known as Intelligent AML, uses advanced technologies like AI and machine learning to detect suspicious activity. It moves beyond basic rules-based systems to analyze vast amounts of data, recognize complex patterns, and adapt to new threats, making this approach more accurate and efficient than traditional methods.
How do AML solutions deliver ROI for financial institutions?
AML solutions provide ROI by reducing operational costs and financial risks. They do this by:
- Automating manual tasks, saving time and resources.
- Lowering the number of false positives, so analysts can focus on real threats.
- Helping financial institutions avoid costly regulatory fines.
- Improving the customer experience through faster onboarding.
What’s the difference between traditional and intelligent AML systems?
Traditional AML systems rely on static, rules-based logic. They are rigid and generate a high number of false positives, which burdens compliance teams. Intelligent AML systems, by contrast, use AI to learn, adapt, and improve detection accuracy over time, significantly reducing manual effort and false alerts.
How much can intelligent AML solutions save banks annually?
According to Liminal, intelligent AML solutions can save financial institutions between $2.5 million and $37 million per year. These savings are driven by:
- A reduction in false positives, with leading solutions offering rates below 50%.
- An estimated 23% reduction in manual review time.
- Increased automation of SAR filings.
- Leading solutions can also provide a return of $5.30 for every $1 spent.
Is AI-powered AML compliant with regulations?
Yes, AI-powered AML solutions are generally compliant with regulations. In fact, regulators often encourage the use of innovative technology to improve compliance effectiveness. The key is to ensure the AI systems are transparent, explainable, and can provide a clear audit trail to justify their decisions.
Footnotes
All expertise and insights are from human Feedzaians, but we may leverage AI to enhance phrasing or efficiency. Welcome to the future.