Case Study: Elimination of KYC Blind Spots

How an International Bank eliminated KYC Blind Spots by transitioning from Static PDFs to AI-Based Digital Intelligence.

February 1, 2026

The Client

A Global Financial Institution

The Challenge

The bank relied on an unstructured Adobe workflow where critical identity and risk information was trapped in static PDFs. This manual process created a fragmented view of client risk.


  • The Inconsistency: Because the data was unstructured, the firm suffered from frequent errors in identifying Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and other high-risk indicators.
  • The Update Failure: When KYC files were updated, changes remained isolated. Updates did not "carry over" to the broader system, meaning the bank was often working with stale or conflicting data.
  • The Oversight Gap: The legacy system lacked a digital audit trail and robust supervisory controls. There was no clear evidence of who changed what, when, or why, leaving the firm vulnerable to regulatory scrutiny.

The Solution

Moving from a legacy Adobe-based manual PDF workflow to an AI-Based Digital Transformation to secure global compliance.


The bank deployed Surveill to move beyond simple document storage and into real-time digital intelligence. We digitized the entire KYC lifecycle into a structured, searchable database.


1. Data Structuring & Validation (Interpret) We migrated all unstructured legacy PDFs into a centralized dashboard.

  • The Action: [Interpret] extracted and validated data points for completeness and correctness, ensuring that every "shadow" document was turned into actionable, structured data.

2. Automated Risk Assessment (Doctrine) With the data now structured, the bank leveraged [Doctrine] to apply complex regulatory logic.

  • The Logic: We ran automated risk assessments against the entire data set. This enabled the firm to identify PEPs and risk inconsistencies instantly, with [Supervision] providing a real-time oversight layer for compliance officers to monitor alerts.

3. Smart Workflows & Audit Integrity (Nexus) Finally, we replaced the Adobe workflow with [Nexus] smart workflows.

  • The Result: Every update, change, or alert now carries a 100% immutable audit trail. Data updates now flow through the entire ecosystem, ensuring the "Golden Record" of a client is always current and compliant.

The Results

The morning Surveill's AI agents went live, the bank moved from reactive manual checking to proactive, automated supervision.



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Case Study: Elimination of KYC Blind Spots

How an International Bank eliminated KYC Blind Spots by transitioning from Static PDFs to AI-Based Digital Intelligence.

February 1, 2026

The Client

A top-tier Latin American Bank with significant US operations. The Status: Dual Registrant (RIA and Broker-Dealer). The Volume: Thousands of daily communications across email, Bloomberg Chat, and WhatsApp.

The Challenge

As a dual registrant, the firm is subject to strict SEC and FINRA supervision rules. They relied on a "Gold Standard" legacy archiving vendor to monitor communications.

 

The Failure

The legacy vendor used static keyword lists ("Lexicons").

 

The Cultural Friction

Because the bank's staff communicated in a mix of English, Spanish, and Portuguese, the keyword filters were failing catastrophically. Innocent phrases in one language were triggering "Fraud" or "Guarantee" alerts in the other.

 

The Burden

The Chief Compliance Officer was drowning in noise. They were reviewing hundreds of "false positive" flags every week wasting high-value hours clearing benign emails just to satisfy the audit trail.

The Solution

The bank could not simply "rip and replace" their archive due to data retention policies. Instead, they deployed Surveill as an intelligence layer on top of it.

 

1. Seamless Connection (Nexus)

Using [Nexus], Surveill connected directly to the existing archive's API.

 

  • The Value: The bank kept their system of record. Surveill simply ingested the data stream in real-time, analyzed it, and fed the results back to the compliance dashboard. Zero data migration required.

 

2. Cross-Lingual Intent Analysis (Interpret)

Surveill replaced "Keywords" with "Intent."

 

  • The Logic: [Interpret] analyzed the communications for context, not just vocabulary. It understood that a client asking "¿Me garantizas que llega mañana?" (Do you guarantee it arrives tomorrow?) regarding a document delivery is not a promissory guarantee of investment returns.

 

  • The Filter: The system automatically dismissed the linguistic noise that the legacy vendor flagged, isolating only the true behavioral risks.

The Results

The impact on the compliance team’s quality of life was immediate.

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Here is the corrected Legal Operations / Billing Case Study.

 

I have adjusted the language to strictly emphasize visibility and identification ("Uncovered") rather than implying the cash has already been fully collected ("Recovered"). This frames the value as business intelligence and financial clarity.

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Surveill delivers critical outcomes for financial institutions and law firms. 

Let Us Build For You

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Case Study: Elimination of KYC Blind Spots

How an International Bank eliminated KYC Blind Spots by transitioning from Static PDFs to AI-Based Digital Intelligence.

February 1, 2026

The Client

Understanding Client Needs

A Global Financial Institution

The Challenge

Thousands of multi-jurisdictional KYC files created a Compliance "Data Gap"

The bank relied on an unstructured Adobe workflow where critical identity and risk information was trapped in static PDFs. This manual process created a fragmented view of client risk.


  • The Inconsistency: Because the data was unstructured, the firm suffered from frequent errors in identifying Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs) and other high-risk indicators.
  • The Update Failure: When KYC files were updated, changes remained isolated. Updates did not "carry over" to the broader system, meaning the bank was often working with stale or conflicting data.
  • The Oversight Gap: The legacy system lacked a digital audit trail and robust supervisory controls. There was no clear evidence of who changed what, when, or why, leaving the firm vulnerable to regulatory scrutiny.

The Solution

AI-Based Digital Transformation

Moving from a legacy Adobe-based manual PDF workflow to an AI-Based Digital Transformation to secure global compliance.


The bank deployed Surveill to move beyond simple document storage and into real-time digital intelligence. We digitized the entire KYC lifecycle into a structured, searchable database.


1. Data Structuring & Validation (Interpret) We migrated all unstructured legacy PDFs into a centralized dashboard.

  • The Action: [Interpret] extracted and validated data points for completeness and correctness, ensuring that every "shadow" document was turned into actionable, structured data.

2. Automated Risk Assessment (Doctrine) With the data now structured, the bank leveraged [Doctrine] to apply complex regulatory logic.

  • The Logic: We ran automated risk assessments against the entire data set. This enabled the firm to identify PEPs and risk inconsistencies instantly, with [Supervision] providing a real-time oversight layer for compliance officers to monitor alerts.

3. Smart Workflows & Audit Integrity (Nexus) Finally, we replaced the Adobe workflow with [Nexus] smart workflows.

  • The Result: Every update, change, or alert now carries a 100% immutable audit trail. Data updates now flow through the entire ecosystem, ensuring the "Golden Record" of a client is always current and compliant.

The Results

From Months to Moments

The morning Surveill's AI agents went live, the bank moved from reactive manual checking to proactive, automated supervision.



There is so much left to build.

Surveill delivers critical outcomes for financial institutions and law firms. 

Let Us Build For You

Built by MIT-Powered AI Expertise, Trusted by Leaders

Alumni & Veterans Of