spektr launches new monitoring and investigation tools as FCA fines for AML control failings top £300 million. * AML and KYC * 01.09.2026 10:55 am spektr, the Danish compliance technology company, today launches spektr 3.0, bringing real-time transaction monitoring, AI-assisted investigations and policy management into the same platform as its existing KYC/KYB system. The pressure to modernise is growing Since 2021, the Financial Conduct Authority has imposed 13 fines totalling more than £300 million on banks for failings in anti-money laundering systems and controls. PwC's 2026 EMEA AML Survey found that 61% of banks plan to invest in new transaction-monitoring tools ahead of July 2027. The same research found that confidence in existing transaction monitoring had fallen from as high as 75% in 2024 to below 30% in 2026. Mikkel Skarnager, CEO and co-founder of spektr, said: "Regulators are no longer just punishing firms for missed financial crime. They are also taking action when firms cannot evidence their controls. The question is increasingly simple: show Financial IT how you reached this decision. "The trouble is, the technology most firms rely on makes that extraordinarily hard. Who the customer is lives in onboarding, what they are doing lives in monitoring, investigations happen in a third system, and the audit trail ends up in emails and spreadsheets. That architecture makes it almost impossible to show your work, however good your people are." Connecting policy, monitoring and investigations Most compliance platforms specialise in either KYC/KYB onboarding or transaction monitoring, leaving customer identity, activity and investigations in separate systems. spektr 3.0 is one of a limited number to combine a full KYC/KYB system with real-time transaction monitoring using the same customer records, risk profiles and case workflow. * Transaction Monitoring checks customer activity in real time against detection rules compliance teams build and control, with no engineering support required. Alerts are routed into the same customer record, risk profile and investigation workflow used for onboarding. * Policy Engine turns an institution's written policies into the rules the platform runs on. Compliance teams approve every rule before it takes effect, while versioning records which rules applied when so decisions can be explained to regulators. * Case AI uses AI agents to run investigation tasks, gather evidence and recommend an outcome with citations and a confidence level, allowing analysts to focus on cases requiring judgement. Compliance teams remain responsible for the final decision. Together, the products create a clear link between the policy that defines a risk, the activity that triggers an alert and the investigation that follows. All three products will be available to new and existing spektr customers from 1 September 2026. Skarnager added: "The real promise of AI goes far beyond shaving a few minutes off the same old processes. It gives us the chance to create a new operating model where product teams can move and compliance can say yes, because every decision is visible, traceable and defensible. That is the future we are building with spektr: mission control for regulated progress." The launch follows spektr's $20 million Series A in April 2026, led by NEA with continued participation from Northzone, Seedcamp and PreSeed Ventures. The round brought the company's total funding to $26 million.

spektrQ, the expert team within Copenhagen-based compliance automation platform spektr, is helping financial institutions identify AI opportunities in compliance workflows. The company addresses a persistent challenge: whilst AI adoption in compliance is high, measurable impact remains limited, with fewer than one in ten banks operating GenAI use cases beyond pilots. The gap exists because compliance requires auditable, defensible decisions that generic AI cannot provide. spektrQ maps existing compliance workflows to pinpoint where AI delivers measurable impact before deployment. Early results show promise: one European PayTech eliminated 97% of redundant screening runs, whilst a neobank reduced document update lag by 83%. BCG estimates AI could deliver $25 billion to $50 billion in annual efficiency gains across bank risk and compliance functions, with cost reductions up to 50% in KYC processes.