AI Operations Case Study

Client onboarding & KYC/AML, from days to same‑day.

A worked example for regulated financial firms: how an agentic workflow clears the onboarding backlog and screens every applicant — while a licensed compliance officer stays in control of every final decision.

Illustrative model — figures are modelled on typical mid-market volumes, not a single named client.

79%
Faster onboarding time
£222K+
Est. annual labour saved
100%
Applications screened (vs. spot checks)
The challenge

Every new client runs the same gauntlet

Mid-size and large financial firms lose significant time and money in a process every new client goes through: onboarding and KYC/AML review. Across firms, the same three bottlenecks show up.

Manual re-keying

Staff hand-type data from IDs, statements and tax forms into the CRM and core systems.

Screening by hand

Sanctions/PEP checks run on basic keyword search — slow, and prone to missed matches.

No triage

Compliance reviews every file — including the 90%+ that are low-risk — so files sit 3–5 days.

The automation

Same inbox in. Same day out.

The workflow slots into the tools the firm already uses. AI handles extraction, structuring and first-pass screening; the queue is triaged so people only touch what needs judgement.

Before — manual ~3.5 hrs of staff work · spread over 3–5 business days
01Document intakePDFs & scans by email
02Manual data entryRe-keyed into CRM
03Manual KYC/AML checkKeyword search
04Review queueEvery file, no triage
05Account activatedAfter days
After — AI-assisted ~45 min of staff review · same-day activation
01Document intakeSame inbox
02AI extraction & structuringAuto-parsed to fields
03Automated AML/PEP screenAll files, every list
04Human reviewFlagged & high-risk only Human-in-the-loop
05Account activatedSame day

AI handles extraction, structuring and first-pass screening. A licensed compliance officer stays in control of every final decision.

Illustrative ROI

Based on 150 new accounts per month

Metric Before — manual After — AI-assisted
Staff time per account 3.5 hours 0.75 hours
Fully-loaded labour cost / account* £157.50 £33.75
Monthly labour cost (150 accounts) £23,625 £5,063
Annual labour cost £283,500 £60,750
Time to account activation 3–5 business days Same day
Files receiving full AML/PEP screening Spot-checked 100%

*Assumes a blended fully-loaded staff cost of £45/hour. Figures are illustrative; a discovery session produces numbers specific to your volumes and staffing.

£222,750
Net annual impact

Recovered labour cost per year, plus faster time-to-revenue and a full audit trail on every file.

Governance

Why this stays compliant

Human-in-the-loop

AI drafts and flags; a licensed compliance officer approves every final decision.

Full audit trail

Every extraction, screening result and override is timestamped and logged.

Your existing stack

Integrates with your CRM, core banking and document systems, with data handling aligned to SOC 2 principles.

Next step

Validate these numbers against your own volumes

We start with a free 30-minute consultation, then a 2-week pilot on one onboarding queue using your real (anonymised) data — before any firm-wide rollout decision is made.