Commerzbank Taps Hawk to Fight Money Laundering With AI

Germany’s Commerzbank launched a partnership with anti-fraud and anti-money laundering (AML) technology firm Hawk.

The collaboration, announced in a news release Tuesday (March 10), is designed to optimize the bank’s internal processes by supplementing its existing compliance system with Hawk’s AML AI Extended Risk Model.

“Given the complexity of the landscape, we can only successfully combat financial crime with the help of AI. It is a high strategic priority for us to proactively and continuously expand our compliance system architecture,” said Viktor Kraus, cluster lead global financial crime prevention platform at Commerzbank.

“Banks must adapt to new threat scenarios in money laundering. Our AI-driven solution helps achieve this,” added Tobias Schweiger, CEO of Hawk.

Hawk said its solution lets banks benefit from complex AI models without having to invest in time-consuming technology updates.

The company said this has allowed Commerzbank to increase the accuracy of its alerts and reduce false positives, and detect more cases of fraud or money laundering.

“Our software enables compliance teams to improve the quality and transparency of money laundering detection and investigations,” Schweiger said. “In this context, the explainable nature of our AI plays a central role – particularly regarding regulatory approval.”

The partnership comes as financial institutions are investing more aggressively in technology such as AI to combat fraud and financial crime, as PYMNTS wrote last week.

“Fraud losses remain contained at the industry level, but the pressure is uneven and growing, particularly for large banks and digital-first players,” that report said.

Research by PYMNTS Intelligence and Block outline the way the landscape has shifted. For example, 71% of total fraud incidents and dollar losses now stem from unauthorized-party schemes, a sharp uptick from 48% last year.

The research also shows that average fraud loss rates rose to 0.8 basis points, with large banks seeing losses above 3.5 basis points, more than four times the survey average. And 68% of financial institutions increased their spending on fraud-detection tools year over year, while 46% witnessing rising sophistication in fraud schemes.

“The resurgence of unauthorized access reflects a broader evolution in tactics,” PYMNTS wrote. “Fraudsters are exploiting credentials, manipulating payment information and targeting faster payment rails. As shown in the report’s breakdown of fraud types, digital payment fraud and compromised credentials account for a growing share of both transaction volume and dollar value. This is not static crime. It adapts. Institutions respond. The cycle repeats.”