Over the last year, banks and venture capitalists have poured tens of millions of dollars into technology to fight financial crimes; there are four main reasons this trend is happening; banks want to avoid heavy anti-money laundering fines, regulators levied more than $8bn in fines last year; banks need better technology to keep up with criminals who are always one step ahead; regulators have started to embrace new technology, including artificial intelligence based solutions; consumer behaviors are changing and banks need to adapt to these changes; “We’ve never had any pushback, as long as we’ve explained how we’ve approached a problem, what we’ve done that’s different from what was there before and why we’re confident that this is a better solution,” Meera Das, Managing Director of AML Modeling and Machine Learning at BMO Financial Group, said to American Banker. “And part of this is also taking the time with the regulator to ensure that they are comfortable, and seeing if they do have any concerns.” American Banker.