MVB Bank has entered a multi-year agreement with Bretton AI to use AI-supported operations for anti-money laundering (AML) monitoring and know-your-customer (KYC) compliance as its fintech business expands.
The stated objective of MVB, a financial institution that integrates traditional banking with advanced fintech solutions, is to increase compliance capacity without expanding back-office headcount at the same rate as its fintech partnerships. A dedicated U.S.-based Bretton team will use the company’s AI platform to review alerts and complete enhanced due-diligence work under MVB’s policies and risk framework.
“Bretton AI gives us a way to scale monitoring and due-diligence capacity while keeping MVB in control of the program, its decisions and its filings. That allows our team to focus on the highest-risk work, support responsible growth, and advance our broader AI strategy.”
Julie O’Connor, Chief Compliance Officer, MVB Bank
Banks that provide banking-as-a-service or other financial infrastructure to fintech companies take on responsibility for monitoring activity across those relationships. As the number of partners and transactions increases, the amount of compliance work can also increase.
Traditionally, one way to handle that growth has been to hire more analysts. But this approach can become expensive and slow to scale. AI offers another model: software can assist with repetitive monitoring and document-review tasks while human specialists remain responsible for decisions that require judgment.
MVB’s arrangement uses that same human-in-the-loop model. According to the announcement, a trained analyst reviews AI-assisted outputs before they reach MVB. The bank also retains control over its compliance program, decisions and regulatory filings.
AML and KYC are not simply data-processing exercises. An alert may require additional information, contextual analysis or escalation. Automating the first stages of the process can reduce manual workload, but it does not remove the bank’s responsibility for operating an effective risk-management program.
The economics of AI-powered compliance are also changing compared to more traditional models. Thus, Bretton’s model combines its AI platform with a dedicated operations team and outcome-based pricing, meaning MVB is buying completed compliance work rather than simply adding employees to its own payroll. That could become an attractive example for banks facing uneven or rapidly growing workloads.
