The majority of global financial institutions are actively implementing agentic AI in order to improve their compliance operations, according to new research from Fenergo, the leading provider of digital solutions for know your customer (KYC), anti-money laundering (AML) and client lifecycle management (CLM).

Fenergo’s study conducted in collaboration with Chartis Research, which surveyed 90 risk, compliance and technology professionals across asset managers and corporate, investment, and commercial banks in 2025 across the US and the UK, revealed that 93% of financial institutions plan to implement agentic AI within next two years and 6% are already using agentic AI. The findings reveal that adoption is driven by a need to improve the effectiveness and cost efficiency of compliance operations.

The research highlights firms are deploying agentic AI to focus on high-value, high-risk use cases and deliver immediate impact, with over a third of firms (36%) listing fraud detection as their top reason for adoption. This is closely followed by KYC maintenance (19%) and transaction monitoring (16%). These findings come at a time when  67% of global financial institutions are losing clients due to manual KYC processes and inefficient client onboarding.

Fenergo’s analysis also reveals that beyond operational efficiency gains, firms are anticipating large cost savings by implementing agentic AI, with 26% of respondents anticipating annual savings of more than $4 million. Savings can be made from reduced manual workload, faster decision making cycles and fewer compliance breaches.

Data privacy (44%) and regulations (36%) topped the list of concerns US financial institutions have when considering agentic AI implementation. In addition, the report uncovers that nearly three quarters (71%) of firms list scalability as the most important factor when evaluating new technologies, suggesting a desire for agentic AI to be deployed more widely across the business.

Keith Redmond, Chief Product Officer, Fenergo, said: “Rising financial crime risks and outdated onboarding processes are forcing firms to rethink compliance from the ground up. As operational inefficiency continues to drive up costs, financial institutions are turning to agentic AI as an intelligible, efficient and value-driven compliance assistant – and rightly so. Those that embrace agentic AI now will no doubt be the ones defining the future of financial crime prevention, realising its profound implications for productivity, competitive differentiation, and client service well ahead of the curve.

Yet concerns around data privacy and regulations have the potential to stall adoption. By selecting software solutions with built-in governance and control frameworks, financial institutions can reap the benefits of agentic-AI while meeting global regulatory obligations.”