WorkFusion has won the FinTech Breakthrough award for AML Solution of the Year for Tara, its transaction screening alert tool. The award was presented in the programme's 10th annual edition.
The recognition focuses on Tara, an AI agent for sanctions screening and payment alert review. It is designed to determine whether flagged payment messages are genuine sanctions matches or false positives, while routing more complex cases to compliance teams for further review.
Financial institutions face high volumes of sanctions and anti-money laundering alerts, many of which prove to be false positives after manual investigation. The burden has grown as banks contend with tighter compliance expectations while trying to avoid payment delays and operational backlogs.
According to WorkFusion, Tara analyses names, locations and transaction data in alerted payment messages and records the rationale behind each decision. The tool can screen messages in structured, semi-structured and unstructured formats, including SWIFT, ISO 20022, Fedwire, ACH, CHAPS, IAT and SEPA.
WorkFusion also says the system works with watchlists from authorities and organisations, including OFAC, the UN Security Council, HM Treasury and the FBI. It supports existing compliance software such as Firco Continuity with Case Manager, LexisNexis Bridger XG 5 and OpenCorporates, as well as custom integrations.
Award context
FinTech Breakthrough is part of Tech Breakthrough, which runs recognition programmes across a range of technology markets. Its financial technology awards span payments, banking, lending, personal finance, cryptocurrency, regtech and insurtech.
The latest award places WorkFusion's offering in the anti-money laundering category, where banks continue to invest in automation to reduce repetitive manual review work. Sanctions screening has drawn particular attention because payment operations can slow sharply when alert queues build up.
Steve Johansson, Managing Director of FinTech Breakthrough, commented on the selection.
"Tara enables banks to move from reactive, labor-heavy AML operations to proactive, regulation-ready programs," said Johansson.
He added detail on the operational impact that the judges associated with the product.
"With Tara, banks achieve faster, more consistent sanctions screening. If false positives no longer slow payments, processing is expedited, backlogs are eliminated, and investigators can focus on genuine risk. Tara makes sanctions screening faster, smarter, and fully compliant, transforming AML operations at scale," said Johansson.
Bank workflow
WorkFusion says Tara is aimed at the first stage of alert handling, where firms must quickly distinguish routine false positives from transactions that require specialist review. In practice, the software is intended to mirror the reasoning process that sanctions analysts use when comparing customer and transaction details with sanctioned names and entities.
The product is already deployed at leading financial institutions, according to WorkFusion. The company says Tara can reduce manual handling of false positive alerts by more than 70% for many organisations that review millions of transaction alerts each year.
Adam Famularo, Chief Executive Officer of WorkFusion, described the operational changes customers can expect from the system.
"What once took minutes per case is now completed in real-time, allowing payments to move without delay while maintaining rigorous compliance standards. Tara not only reduces workload but also directly improves customer satisfaction and operational resilience," said Adam Famularo, Chief Executive Officer, WorkFusion.
He also gave a more specific estimate of the potential reduction in manual review work.
"For most organizations, Tara can facilitate a 70%+ reduction in the manual disposition of false positive hits on millions of transaction alerts each year. Already deployed across leading financial institutions, Tara is helping to stop sanctioned individuals or entities from participating in our banking institutions," said Famularo.
WorkFusion became part of UiPath, bringing its financial crime compliance products into a larger automation software group. The business focuses on tools for anti-money laundering, sanctions screening, adverse media monitoring, know your customer checks, transaction monitoring and fraud investigations.
The award reflects growing demand for software that can handle repetitive compliance tasks in banking. As sanctions regimes expand and payment messaging standards evolve, vendors are competing to show that automated review systems can cut false positives while preserving clear audit trails for regulators and internal control teams.