AML compliance software is now a baseline expectation for Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)-regulated firms in the UK, especially across payments, EMIs, and fintechs. As regulation tightens and financial crime evolves, the AML software market continues to grow, and UK regulators have issued significant AML-related fines, often linked to weaknesses in transaction monitoring and governance.
The real question isn’t whether to invest in AML tooling, but which platform can demonstrate a risk-based approach, support real-time detection, and stand up to FCA scrutiny without adding friction to the customer experience. When comparing solutions, prioritize what matters most in FCA reviews: effective controls, strong monitoring governance, operational efficiency, and audit readiness.
List of FCA Compliance Software Solutions
What to Look for in FCA AML Compliance Software
FCA AML compliance software helps firms meet obligations under the UK Money Laundering Regulations, Proceeds of Crime Act and relevant FCA Handbook requirements by supporting the identification, assessment, monitoring and mitigation of financial crime risk across the customer lifecycle.
Unlike basic KYC tools, FCA-aligned AML platforms go beyond onboarding checks, combining customer risk assessment, sanctions and PEP screening, ongoing monitoring, transaction analysis, investigations and audit trails into a single operational framework so firms can evidence effective oversight when challenged by regulators.
FCA Expectations and a Risk-Based Approach
The FCA doesn’t mandate vendors, but it expects proportionate, risk-based controls aligned to a firm’s products, customers, and geographies. AML software should support risk scoring, EDD for higher-risk customers, and clear reporting that shows how controls are set, tuned, and proven effective over time.
Transaction Monitoring That Scales Beyond Manual Review
As payment volumes grow, manual alert handling doesn’t scale, especially for instant and real-time rails. FCA-aligned platforms should support near-real-time monitoring, scenario testing and backtesting, and entity resolution to link related accounts and spot patterns. Strong alert quality controls, like reducing false positives and prioritizing risk, help maintain effectiveness without overwhelming analysts or adding customer friction.
Screening: Sanctions, PEPs and Adverse Media
Sanctions, PEP, and adverse media screening is a core FCA requirement for onboarding and ongoing monitoring. Strong screening tools use frequently updated data, configurable name matching, and risk-based workflows to reduce false positives and speed up reviews. They also keep immutable audit trails so firms can evidence why alerts were cleared or escalated and how screening rules align with the firm’s risk assessment.
Audit Trails, SAR Workflows and Reporting
Regulators increasingly focus on whether firms can evidence what happened, not just whether they detected activity. AML platforms should provide immutable logs showing who did what, when and why; case management that supports notes, attachments and escalation paths; and one‑click evidence packs that support FCA visits, internal audit and board reporting. Suspicious activity report (SAR) workflows, even where submission still happens via the NCA’s own systems, should help teams standardize narrative quality, track deadlines and maintain a defensible record of decision‑making.
Flexibility: Vendor Scoring vs. Your Own Models
Different FCA-regulated firms need different levels of control over detection logic and risk scoring, based on size, risk profile, and internal capability. Many start with vendor rules and scores for fast deployment, then move toward hybrid or custom models while keeping the vendor for workflows, case management, and audit. API-first platforms with strong explainability and configuration make it easier to adapt to new products, typologies, and FCA expectations without rebuilding core systems.
Best of FCA Compliance Software Vendors
SEON
SEON is a fraud prevention and AML compliance platform built for FCA-regulated businesses in the UK, including fintechs, EMIs, lenders, iGaming operators, and digital commerce firms. The platform supports risk-based AML compliance across onboarding and ongoing monitoring, helping firms detect financial crime in real time without adding friction to the customer experience.
Key capabilities include sanctions, PEP, and adverse media screening, real-time transaction monitoring, and behavioral risk detection using digital footprint and device intelligence. Configurable rules, explainable risk scoring, and immutable audit trails help firms evidence control effectiveness, support investigations, and meet FCA supervisory expectations.
Here’s what SEON’s AML software can do:
- FCA-aligned AML screening: sanctions, PEP, and adverse media checks for onboarding and ongoing monitoring
- Real-time risk detection: transaction and behavioral monitoring to flag suspicious activity before funds move
- Configurable, risk-based controls: customizable rules and scoring to match your products, customers, and geographies
- Explainable decisions: clear drivers behind risk scores to support FCA narratives and internal governance
- Audit-ready evidence: immutable logs and reporting to show why alerts were cleared/escalated and how controls perform
- Fast deployment: single-API integration to implement controls without adding customer friction
Read reviews of SEON Fraud Fighters on G2
Run screening and ongoing monitoring in one workflow, with clear audit trails and configurable rules for real-time risk.
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Feedzai
Feedzai provides software for anti-money laundering programs, covering transaction monitoring, watchlist screening, and customer risk assessment. It combines configurable rules with machine-learning models to flag suspicious activity and route alerts for review.
The platform includes tools for KYC/CDD support, case management, and audit trails to document decisions. It is designed to adapt to different products, geographies, and regulatory requirements, with options to tune thresholds and reduce manual investigation.
FraudNet
FraudNet is a compliance and risk management platform that provides end-to-end solutions for KYC and AML monitoring. The software utilizes AI and machine learning to automate entity screening and transaction monitoring across global markets. Key features include a no-code risk decisioning engine, data orchestration, and access to a global intelligence network. It is designed to help financial institutions and commerce businesses reduce false positives and streamline investigations through centralized case management.
Flagright
Flagright is an AI-native AML and fraud prevention platform that provides centralized compliance infrastructure for fintechs and banks. The software includes tools for transaction monitoring, risk scoring, and automated watchlist screening via a no-code interface. It aims to improve operational efficiency by automating manual risk assessments and reducing false positive alerts.
The platform also offers integrated case management and reporting features to assist institutions with regulatory alignment and audit readiness.
Sanction Scanner
Sanction Scanner is an AML compliance provider that offers real-time screening and monitoring solutions powered by global data. The platform enables institutions to scan entities against over 3,000 sanctions, PEP, and watchlist databases, which are updated every fifteen minutes. Its core features include transaction monitoring, KYB verification, and automated customer risk assessments. The software is designed for easy integration via API, helping organizations across various industries automate their regulatory obligations and fraud detection.
Ondato
Ondato offers a SaaS platform for KYC, KYB, and AML workflows across onboarding and ongoing customer management. It includes digital identity verification, customer and business onboarding, and screening checks such as sanctions, PEP, and adverse media.
The platform also covers lifecycle tools like authentication for returning users, customer data management, and remote verification via a “virtual branch” approach. For transaction monitoring (KYT), Ondato indicates partner-based support, alongside configurable rules and processes intended to adapt to different regulatory requirements.
Which FCA AML Solution Is Right for Your Business?
Choosing an AML platform is less about finding a universal best tool and more about matching capabilities to your permissions, risk profile and stage of growth. Three questions usually shape the decision: What type of firm are you? How mature is your business? How far can you go with automation before adding unnecessary complexity?
- EMIs vs Banks vs Payment Firms: EMIs and payment institutions usually handle high-volume, low-value flows and face close FCA scrutiny on safeguarding, transaction monitoring, and sanctions controls. They tend to benefit from tools that prioritise real-time monitoring, sanctions/PEP screening, and clear governance with minimal setup, while banks often need broader product coverage, deeper scenario configuration, and stronger integration with core systems and case management.
- Early-Stage vs Scaling Fintechs: Early-stage fintechs typically have lean compliance teams and changing risk profiles, so they often need software with strong out-of-the-box rules, guided workflows, and simple configuration to reach an acceptable FCA standard quickly. As they scale, priorities shift toward more control over scenarios, better data integration, and operational tooling that supports higher volumes and more complex investigations.
- Manual vs Automated Monitoring Needs: Manual, spreadsheet-based monitoring can work at very low volumes, but it becomes unreliable as transactions and typologies grow. Automated monitoring scales coverage, helps detect patterns, and produces the records FCA teams need to evidence risk-based monitoring, alert handling, and decision-making over time.
Common Mistakes When Choosing AML Software in the UK
Many UK firms trip themselves up by choosing AML tools that only solve onboarding, leaving gaps in ongoing monitoring and investigations. If your platform is limited to KYC checks at sign‑up, you risk missing sanctions hits, unusual behaviour and transaction patterns that emerge over time, which is very much where FCA scrutiny now sits.
Relying purely on batch monitoring creates similar problems. If you only review transactions overnight or weekly, you are slower to detect and stop suspicious activity, and you may struggle to justify that approach for faster payment rails or higher‑risk products.
Another mistake is weak audit and reporting. If you can’t quickly show who changed a rule, why an alert was closed, or how reviews were handled, FCA scrutiny gets harder fast.
Finally, rigid platforms create problems when your risk profile or products change. If tuning rules takes weeks and heavy vendor help, it’s difficult to prove a truly risk-based approach.
Conclusion
The right platform is the one that fits your permissions, risk profile, and team capacity. In FCA reviews, the strongest setups usually combine effective monitoring, reliable screening, and clear audit trails that show what happened and why. Flexibility also matters, because products, volumes, and FCA expectations change over time.
FAQs
The FCA does not mandate a specific AML software product, but it does require firms to have practical, proportionate and risk‑based systems and controls. In practice, once you reach even a moderate scale, dedicated AML software becomes the only realistic way to meet expectations around ongoing monitoring, screening, governance and auditability.
Any firm within the FCA’s regulatory perimeter that is exposed to money laundering or terrorist financing risk should consider FCA‑aligned AML software, including EMIs, payment institutions, banks, lending platforms and many fintechs. The exact configuration will vary, but all such firms need tools that support risk assessment, screening, transaction monitoring and the evidencing of controls for supervision and audits.
Start by mapping your permissions, customer types, transaction volumes and risk appetite to what you actually need from an AML platform. Then compare vendors on core areas such as screening coverage, transaction monitoring tools, case management, ease of integration and total cost of ownership, focusing on how well each solution supports FCA expectations rather than feature lists.
