Deutsche Bank and Google Build AI Agents to Patrol Trading

Several banks are testing the use of agentic artificial intelligence to boost the efficiency of their systems for monitoring trading and spotting potential misconduct, Bloomberg News reported Wednesday (Feb. 25).

Deutsche Bank is working with Google Cloud to develop agentic AI that will monitor trading; spot anomalies in orders, trades and market moves; and flag those anomalies to a human compliance officer who can further investigate them, according to the report.

The bank also plans to use the technology to monitor the communications of client-facing staff such as traders and salespeople, per the report. Here, the agentic AI will look for unusual actions, such as forwarding confidential information to personal email addresses.

Nomura Holdings and another, unnamed global bank are considering a collaboration in which they would train AI surveillance models together, share information where appropriate, and possibly work with a regulator to share ideas, according to the report.

The bank’s executives said they believe such a system could reduce false positives by as much as 40% and cut compliance costs by as much as $5 million per year, per the report.

Banco Santander and other banks are working with FinTech firm ThetaRay to include agentic AI in their anti-money laundering (AML) controls, according to the report.

The PYMNTS Intelligence report “Agentic AI Breaks Out of the Sandbox” found that agentic AI is being implemented across every industry vertical. Among firms in the United States with at least $1 billion in annual revenues, 23.4% reported they were either piloting or fully using agentic AI.

Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said in November that AI and automation are improving productivity across operations and corporate functions. In the back office, loan underwriting, compliance reviews and internal reporting are benefiting from AI-enabled workflow that enables the bank to grow faster without expanding headcount.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher J. Waller said Tuesday (Feb. 24) that the Fed is building AI into its daily work to achieve operational efficiencies in payments, financial management, human resources and the financial services it provides to the U.S. Treasury.

“We start with the problem to be solved and the business need, then apply the right capability from across the AI stack,” Waller said. “That discipline helps us deliver real business value while avoiding unnecessary complexity and cost.”

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