How can artificial intelligence help banks fight financial crime more efficiently while keeping human investigators at the center of decision-making?

In this NYSE Live interview from Money20/20 USA, Carson Pickens, Senior Vice President at FIS Global, discusses the company's AI initiatives, its partnership with Anthropic, and how agentic AI is helping financial institutions modernize anti-money laundering investigations and compliance workflows.

J.D. Durkin spoke with Pickens about banking technology, AI agents, financial crime prevention, compliance automation, risk management, anti-money laundering investigations, and the future of financial services innovation.

A major theme throughout the conversation is the growing role of artificial intelligence in banking operations. As financial institutions process increasing volumes of transactions and regulatory requirements, AI is becoming an important tool for improving efficiency and decision-making.

The interview also explores FIS Global's broad role within the financial services ecosystem. The company provides technology, infrastructure, and operational solutions across banking, insurance, payments, capital markets, and financial services organizations around the world.

Another key topic is FIS's strategic partnership with Anthropic. The collaboration includes both internal AI adoption and the co-development of agentic solutions designed specifically for financial institutions and highly regulated environments.

The conversation further examines the role of Anthropic's engineering teams in working directly alongside FIS developers to create new automation capabilities. According to Pickens, the joint development model has accelerated innovation and product creation.

A significant focus of the discussion is anti-money laundering, or AML, investigations. Banks spend significant resources reviewing suspicious transactions, identifying potential risks, and complying with reporting requirements.

The interview also highlights inefficiencies within traditional investigation processes. Financial institutions often dedicate substantial amounts of employee time to reviewing alerts, evaluating transactions, conducting investigations, and preparing regulatory filings.

Another major theme is the use of AI agents to automate portions of these workflows. FIS is leveraging AI to help gather information, analyze patterns, assist with investigations, and streamline the preparation of supporting documentation.

The discussion also explores how AI can help investigators distinguish between false positives and activity that may warrant deeper review. By automating preliminary analysis, institutions can focus attention on higher-priority cases.

Additionally, Pickens discusses the potential productivity gains associated with AI-powered investigations. Early projections suggest significant reductions in review times for both alert triage and more complex investigative processes.

The interview further examines the importance of maintaining human oversight. While AI can perform data gathering, analysis, and preliminary assessments, human investigators remain responsible for evaluating findings, exercising judgment, and making final decisions.

Another key topic is regulatory reporting. AI tools are being designed to assist with the preparation of suspicious activity reports while maintaining human review and governance controls.

The conversation also highlights FIS's decision to make these capabilities available beyond its traditional core banking customer base. The platform has been developed to integrate with multiple sources of financial data, expanding accessibility for institutions across the industry.

A significant focus is future innovation. FIS sees opportunities to apply agentic AI across a range of financial workflows beyond AML investigations, including disputes management, back-office operations, and operational efficiency initiatives.

Looking ahead, Pickens believes AI agents will increasingly support financial institutions by automating repetitive work, accelerating investigations, improving productivity, and allowing experienced professionals to focus on higher-value decision-making.

Throughout the discussion, Pickens shares insights on artificial intelligence, banking technology, compliance automation, financial crime prevention, anti-money laundering investigations, regulatory reporting, financial services innovation, risk management, enterprise AI, and operational efficiency.

Disclaimer: Informational content only. NYSE does not endorse or recommend investments, strategies, companies, products, or services discussed.

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