A major Spanish bank has dramatically overhauled its sanctions screening operations after deploying SymphonyAI’s SensaAI for Sanctions, achieving a 91.8% reduction in false positives across both transaction and customer screening.
The unnamed institution ranks among Spain’s ten largest banks and maintains a broad international presence, with offices spanning Europe and North, South, and Central America.
Already a user of SymphonyAI’s compliance platform, the bank found itself under growing pressure as transaction volumes climbed and financial crime tactics grew more sophisticated. Compounding this were sanctions-specific challenges: high alert volumes stemming from a high-risk tolerance, and compliance rules that had become increasingly difficult to tune following a series of market expansions through acquisition.
With regulators raising their expectations and management scrutinising operational costs, the bank engaged SymphonyAI to assess how advanced AI could bolster its existing infrastructure.
SymphonyAI responded by deploying SensaAI for Sanctions as an overlay on top of the bank’s current systems. The solution harnesses both generative and predictive AI — using the former to process unstructured free text and the latter to sharpen match accuracy. Every alert generated by the system comes with an AI Score and a plain-language match explanation, giving investigators clearer guidance on where to focus their attention and significantly reducing the volume of low-value alerts requiring review.
Throughout the implementation, SymphonyAI worked in close collaboration with the bank’s compliance teams to calibrate the models without disrupting established workflows.
The impact has been swift and substantial. Alongside the dramatic drop in false positives, the bank has seen alert prioritisation accuracy improve considerably, leading to faster case resolution. Investigation teams are reporting meaningful productivity gains, with AI-generated scores and explanations streamlining the review process.
These operational improvements are expected to deliver significant annual cost savings, while also supporting stronger compliance outcomes that build confidence with regulators and customers.
The bank is now preparing for the next phase of its AI journey. A proof of value for SensaAI for AML is forthcoming, as the institution looks to extend intelligent automation across its financial crime prevention framework. The ultimate goal is to achieve what SymphonyAI describes as “Always-on Compliance” — a continuously adaptive, AI-driven approach to risk detection that reflects the bank’s wider commitment to innovation and customer protection.
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