NEW YORK–A company that says it has built an AI agent that has passed the practice exam offered by the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) has received more than $8 million in funding led by a credit union-backed investment fund.
It has registered a CUSO as part of the process.
Castellum.AI’s said its agent passed the CAMS practice exam, which is typically required for fincrime professionals. The company said it has reached out ACAMS to have the AI agent take an exam in a proctored setting and receive an official CAMS certification but has not yet received a response.
Noting that criminals are already using AI to “supercharge” fraud and money laundering, Castellum AI called the passing of the CAMS exam a “watershed moment, because it shows the AI agent can be trusted to support crime fighting teams at banks and fintechs.”
Guidance ‘Ingested’ from Agencies
The Castellum AI agent is trained by ex-regulators and has ingested guidance from the NCUA, OFAC, FinCEN and others, the company said.
Castellum.AI, which recently closed an oversubscribed $8.5 million Series A that was led Curql, the credit union-backed fund that invests in fintech, said its agent enables fincrime teams to reduce the time spent on compliance alert reviews by 83% “before any tuning.”
“Castellum.AI is a vertically integrated fincrime solution: it sources and enriches data on risky people and entities (from sanctions lists to FBI most wanted to negative news), it has a screening engine which helps credit unions and others compare their clients against a global risk database, and AI agents that support reviews of the results,” the company said in a statement.
The ’Dual Threat’
Added Nick Evens, president and CEO of Curql, “Credit unions face the dual threat of criminals using AI and legacy systems generating
unnecessary compliance alerts on a daily basis. We’re excited to invest in Castellum.AI because they’re deploying AI agents that are fast, precise and explainable to regulators. Credit unions need access to next-generation technology to keep up and Castellum.AI is exactly what the doctor ordered.”
Castellum.AI’s said its fincrime platform reduces AML/KYC false positives by 94% and reduces the time spent on compliance reviews by 83% out of the box – before any tuning.
Combined with detailed audit records covering each decision, institutions have the confidence to deploy an AI agent that aligns with regulatory expectations to the front lines of financial crime prevention, the company said in a statement.
‘Excited to Partner’
“We’re excited to partner with credit union compliance teams who are dedicated to onboarding members more quickly and unblocking transactions,” CEO and Co-Founder Peter Piatetsky said in a statement.