Onboarding is just the beginning. Once a user is verified, the real challenge begins: monitoring their activity for signs of fraud, money laundering, and other financial crimes, without adding friction or wasting resources.

Transaction monitoring is no longer just a requirement from regulators—it’s a key safeguard for businesses across multiple industries. Whether you’re a fintech, a marketplace, or a traditional financial institution, failing to detect suspicious patterns in real time can result in regulatory fines, reputational damage, and financial losses.

In fact, according to Sumsub’s Identity Fraud Report, approximately every 100th user was involved in a fraud network in 2024. To stay ahead, companies need automated tools that can escalate potential fraud cases before regulators (or criminals) do. Sumsub’s AML Transaction Monitoring solution is designed to help companies identify, investigate, and prevent suspicious activity before it becomes a costly problem; and it’s already helping multiple clients do just that.

Why companies may need a transaction monitoring solution

In high-risk, fast-moving industries, onboarding checks alone aren’t enough. Sumsub’s Identity Fraud Report 2024 shows that 76% of fraud occurs after onboarding. Thus, businesses also need continuous oversight of customer activity to stay ahead of fraud and meet AML obligations. There are a few challenges companies commonly face:

• Fragmented data and manual reviews that make it hard to detect suspicious behavior as soon as it happens
• Rapidly evolving regulations requiring flexible, easily updated monitoring rules
• False positives that overwhelm compliance teams and slow down legitimate customers
• The need to monitor multiple asset types (fiat, crypto, and others) within a single workflow
• Operational efficiency pressures, where compliance must be strengthened without inflating costs or team workload

Several Sumsub clients had exactly these issues—but in different ways.

Suggested read: AML Transaction Monitoring in 2025: The Complete Guide

Choosing the right AML transaction monitoring software

Effective AML transaction monitoring isn’t just about catching bad actors—it’s about building a proactive, adaptable system that can keep up with the fraudsters. The best solutions mix automation, intelligence, and flexibility, helping compliance teams to detect and investigate suspicious cases without drowning in false positives.

A strong transaction monitoring platform should offer:

1. Real-time detection of suspicious activity across multiple channels (including fiat, crypto, and other payment methods), as well as options for retrospective analysis
2. Customizable rules and scenarios to reflect an organization’s unique risk profile
3. Dynamic risk scoring, which can be modified to customer risk levels based on ongoing behavior rather than static thresholds
4. Seamless integration with KYC, onboarding, and case management systems for a unified compliance workflow
5. Regulatory adaptability, with built-in support for obligations like the FATF Travel Rule or local AML frameworks, which constantly change
6. Comprehensive audit trails, so that every decision can be justified to regulators

Even the most advanced software needs the right strategy behind it. To truly minimize risk and stay aware of the threats, businesses must combine the right technology with clear, applicable processes. These are the best practices for AML transaction monitoring that any organization can apply.

1. Automate wherever possible. Manual reviews can’t keep up with real-time risks. Use customizable rules to trigger alerts.
2. Use contextual risk scoring. Don’t rely on fixed thresholds—consider jurisdiction, transaction patterns, and user history.
3. Monitor crypto and fiat together. A single view across all channels gives better insights.
4. Combine onboarding and ongoing monitoring. Behavioral data completes the customer risk picture.
5. Adapt rules over time. Stay agile to ever-changing threats and regulatory shifts.

Why Sumsub’s AML Transaction Monitoring system stands out

Sumsub’s Transaction Monitoring doesn’t operate in a vacuum—it’s part of an all-in-one compliance ecosystem. The best transaction monitoring pieces of software are AI-powered, using machine learning for effective detection of suspicious activity or transactions. Some of the things that make Sumsub a top transaction monitoring system include:

• Seamless escalation of flagged cases to Case Management, ensuring traceable investigations and audit-ready logs
• Automatic syncing with onboarding data and ID documents (for example, via AllDocs) for contextual decision-making
• Built-in support for the FATF Travel Rule, for staying compliant without disrupting customer experience
• Integrated Questionnaires that collect additional data during suspicious activity reviews, without custom development

There are over 300 pre-built rule bundles across industries, jurisdictions, use cases, and scenarios (fintech, crypto, iGaming, and more), with no-code customization and testing before deployment. Apart from the key transaction monitoring tools, these features make Sumsub’s solution truly different:

• Dynamic risk scoring and AI-powered anomaly detection. Adjusts customer risk levels in real time based on ongoing transaction behavior and changes in profile data. The AI-driven system uncovers subtle fraud patterns that static rules miss.
• Flexible rule builder. On top of pre-built rules, you can create and customize monitoring scenarios without coding, with the help of the AI-powered rule builder. With it, compliance teams can adapt instantly to new risks or regulatory changes.
• FIU reports generation. Build FIU reports according to the goAML format, with minimal manual intervention and effortless auditing. It helps provide clear audit trails for regulators and mitigates fines.
• Integrated watchlists. Screen transactions against global sanctions and PEP lists directly within the platform.
• Customizable lists. In addition to watchlists, clients can also create and maintain lists of trusted customers to automatically allow or block charges.
• Cross-product synergy. TM works seamlessly with Sumsub’s identity verification, KYB, and device intelligence products, ensuring a full-picture compliance workflow.
• API-first approach. Easy integration with existing systems for automated, large-scale transaction checks. API-first developer support includes sandbox mode, team permissions, and app tokens for integration into existing workflows.
• Crypto monitoring integration. Use specific rule bundles designed for these providers to evaluate the source of funds and the reputation of the wallet, as well as integrated TRM Labs for wallet-level risk scoring.
• Transaction counterparty screening. Checks beneficiary names, payment references, and institutions, with the option to hold or reject risky transactions automatically.
• Deep marketplace integrations. With providers like Chainalysis, Elliptic, TRM Labs, Comply Advantage, and World-Check One, enriching risk intelligence.

Turning compliance plans into action: How clients benefited from Sumsub’s AML transaction monitoring

Wirex: From fragmented oversight to real-time risk visibility

For teams working with both fiat and crypto, scattered systems and manual reviews made it hard to detect risks efficiently. Wirex’s team needed an automated way to spot high-risk patterns (such as velocity anomalies, sudden transaction spikes, and jurisdictional risks) and align them with changing regulations.

In 2023, they implemented Sumsub’s Transaction Monitoring to continuously oversee fiat and crypto transactions, automatically flag suspicious cases into Case Management, and connect directly with Sumsub’s Travel Rule solution for instant screening of virtual asset transfers.

By replacing disconnected processes with a unified and automated system, Wirex was able to spot risks quicker, reduce operational bottlenecks, and keep regulators satisfied with its AML framework.

• Detects suspicious activity patterns in real time across crypto and fiat transactions
• Connects transaction alerts directly with case management for faster action
• Integrated compliance for the Travel Rule, helping Wirex stay ahead of new regulatory expectations
• Holistic customer risk profiles, combining onboarding, document verification, and behavioral signals

Chet Shah

Global Chief Risk & Compliance Office at Wirex

The platforms we had before worked fine at an individual level, but they didn’t work well from a holistic risk management and efficiency point of view. I needed a helicopter view of what was happening, and I simply could not get that from the setup we had.

Blueberry: Reducing false positives in high-volume environments

Blueberry, an international forex and CFD broker, faced similar pressures in a high-volume, high-volatility environment. Faced with false positives and bad quality IDs, they needed rapid rule customization to stay accurate without slowing down legitimate traders. 

With Sumsub, Blueberry introduced advanced verification (ID and Address Verification, Questionnaires, and Non-Doc Verification), integrated Transaction Monitoring with risk scoring, and deployed a user-friendly backend that enhanced agent adoption. A dedicated 24/7 support channel ensured a smooth rollout.

Blueberry has since seen a dramatic improvement in its automated onboarding rate. The automation improved operational efficiency by allowing staff to be redirected from manual onboarding to other important tasks.

• Set custom monitoring rules to align with internal risk tolerance and regulatory requirements, while increasing automated onboarding rate from 40% to 90%
• Fewer false positives meant improving customer-facing areas, such as customer service
• Next, Blueberry plans to extend coverage with Sumsub’s Travel Rule integration for even stronger crypto compliance

James O’Neill

Head of Legal & Compliance at Blueberry

We’re using Sumsub’s Transaction Monitoring, and it provides us with industry-standard risk scoring across our transactions. We’re also planning to continue using Sumsub’s product suite, including its Travel Rule product.

Nebeus: Scaling compliance with lean teams

Nebeus, a crypto-collateralized lending platform, needed a way to monitor fiat and digital asset transactions without overburdening the compliance staff or hidden operational costs. The team also needed a solution that had all the necessary tools for compliance, such as Liveness.

To achieve this, they deployed Sumsub’s WebSDK and Workflow Builder for simplified configuration and adopted a unified platform that combined onboarding, KYB, and Transaction Monitoring, with centralized workflows to reduce complexity.

Nebeus strengthened its risk-based approach to crypto and fiat transactions while keeping compliance teams focused on high-value cases.

• Gained a unified view of all transactions and risk indicators
• Now tracks metrics like user conversion rates and approval accuracy efficiently, through detailed reporting
• Gained full visibility into indicators like user conversion rates and the accuracy of applicant approvals through the platform’s detailed monitoring and reporting
• A steady improvement in onboarding performance

Anna Sokolova

Anti-Money Laundering Analyst at Nebeus

Since adopting Sumsub, we have observed a steady improvement in key metrics. The platform’s comprehensive monitoring and reporting tools provide clear visibility into these trends, allowing us to track and optimize our onboarding process with greater precision.

Results that speak for themselves

Before automation, some Sumsub clients in various sectors would spend months handling transaction monitoring entirely manually. Compliance officers were even working weekends just to keep up with alerts, making it nearly impossible to focus on strategic investigations. Others needed a better, faster way of preventing suspicious transactions from slipping past.

After adopting Sumsub’s Transaction Monitoring, clients could introduce various tools such as behavioral alert scoring, standardized rule sets, and integrated case management—transforming processes into a streamlined, real-time system. This is a pattern we’ve seen across multiple clients: reduced operational strain, faster detection, and stronger compliance without sacrificing business growth.

Within weeks, these companies established automated AML workflows that reduced manual effort, accelerated detection times, and supported their diverse global compliance obligations.

Independent analysis confirms these gains. Forrester’s Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) study of Sumsub Transaction Monitoring found that:

• Teams saved 100% of the time previously spent generating alerts, as alerts became instantly visible in Sumsub. Weekly operational reporting time was also reduced by 90%, freeing up valuable compliance resources.
• Investigations became significantly more efficient, with analysts saving one-third of their time per case thanks to centralized case management and direct customer communication tools.
• Organizations experienced a 10% decrease in overall alerts in Year 1, easing investigative workloads while maintaining stronger detection through refined rule sets.
• Customers achieved a 272% three-year ROI, driven by improved efficiency and compliance readiness
• Rule creation and updates, which previously required tickets to data teams and could take a week, are now completed by compliance managers directly in the platform—going live within a single day.
• Audit preparation is dramatically simplified, with audit-ready reports generated in a few clicks instead of hours of manual searching.

Unquantified benefits also emerged, including reduced risk of penalties through real-time compliance, improved employee experience due to less repetitive work, and a more secure, trustworthy customer journey.

Expert insight: How to future-proof compliance

Compliance teams can’t rely solely on static rules; they need systems that evolve with threats and regulations. Kat Cloud, Head of Government Relations at Sumsub, warns that regulatory penalties (especially for poor transaction monitoring) are no longer theoretical. They’re a real, reputational, and financial risk for fintechs. Many firms face regulatory crackdowns, huge fines, and forced compliance overhauls that threaten innovation.

To stay ahead, compliance leaders should embrace these strategies:

• Partner with forward-thinking RegTech providers. Platforms that support real-time monitoring, ML-powered alerts, and automated SAR generation help firms scale without building complex systems in-house.
• Advocate for smarter regulations. Regulation should serve as a guide, not a belt-tightening innovation. There’s a need for proportional frameworks that account for firm size and sophistication and promote shared dialogue between regulators, innovators, and service providers.
• Build flexibility into your tech stack. As compliance demands such as the Travel Rule or MiCA develop further, firms need modular systems that can adapt without disrupting operations.

In short, future-ready compliance demands not just vigilance, but resilience—and the right partner can make the difference.