The Axle Blog
Product updates, partnerships, case studies, and ideas on AI-powered compliance operations — from the team building it.
Meet Justin: Axle's KYB & KYC Diligence Agent
There's a new analyst on the team. Justin runs KYB and KYC investigations end to end — ownership, related parties, deep web research, and screening — ending in a decision-ready case file.
Read the announcement →
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The 5 Ws of SAR Narratives
The SAR narrative 5 Ws — who, what, when, where, why, plus how — explained with FinCEN and FFIEC guidance and a structure examiners recognize.
KYB vs KYC: What Is Actually Different
KYB vs KYC compared for compliance teams: what each verifies, how FinCEN's CDD Rule anchors both, and where KYB gets operationally harder.
The Real Cost of a Transaction Monitoring Alert
How to calculate cost per alert in AML, why false positives dominate the math, and which levers actually cut transaction monitoring spend.
Adverse Media Screening: Separating Signal From Noise
A risk-based approach to adverse media screening: scoping, source credibility, deduplication, and adjudication that cuts noise without missing risk.
How to Pilot an AI Agent in Your Compliance Program
A practical framework for an AI pilot in AML compliance: scoping, shadow mode, model validation, and the go/no-go metrics that matter.
Beneficial Ownership Verification: A Practical Guide
Beneficial ownership verification under FinCEN's CDD Rule: the 25% ownership and control prongs, verification methods, and what changed in 2025.
What Regulators Expect From AI in Transaction Monitoring
AI transaction monitoring compliance: what examiners expect, key guidance from FinCEN and the banking agencies, and how to run a defensible pilot.
SAR Filing Requirements and Deadlines in 2026
SAR filing requirements in 2026: the $5,000 threshold, 30- and 60-day deadlines, continuing activity timelines, and what the October 2025 FAQs changed.
AlterBank Selects Rose After Pilot Cuts Compliance Investigation Costs by More Than 70%
AlterBank moves Rose from pilot to full production after cutting investigative labor costs by more than 70% — while its team processed three times more AML alerts without adding headcount.
NetReveal Alternatives: Augment or Replace?
Weighing NetReveal alternatives? A framework for choosing between augmenting or replacing legacy transaction monitoring, with regulator guidance.
How to Adjudicate a PEP Alert (Step by Step)
A step-by-step PEP alert adjudication workflow for AML teams: match validation, risk assessment, disposition, and documentation that stands up to exams.
Sanctions Screening False Positives: Why 95% of Hits Are Noise
Why sanctions screening false positive rates hit 95%, the root causes behind the noise, and how to cut review time without loosening thresholds.
What Triggers an EDD Review (and How to Run One)
Risk-profile and event-driven triggers, what FinCEN's CDD Rule requires, and a seven-step EDD workflow that stands up to exams.
The KYB Document Checklist for Business Onboarding
Formation documents, both beneficial-ownership prongs, EDD triggers, and what FinCEN's 2026 exceptive relief actually changes.
L1 vs L2 Alert Review: Inside a Modern TM Workflow
What L1 closes, what L2 escalates, what the FFIEC manual requires — and why the handoff is the hidden cost driver.
How to Reduce False Positives in Transaction Monitoring
Fix the inputs, tune with evidence, and let AI handle alert assembly — a practical playbook, plus what FinCEN actually says about using AI.
How to Write a SAR Narrative (With Annotated Example)
The five essential elements, FinCEN's three-part structure, an annotated example, and the errors that make narratives useless.
Meet Justin: Axle's KYB & KYC Diligence Agent
Ownership, related parties, deep web research, and screening — ending in a decision-ready case file with a suggested disposition.
Meet Axle Copilot: An Analyst-Grade Assistant Inside Every Investigation
Ask questions, rerun with new context, and take action — behind plan cards and predicted-impact previews.
Summer 2026 Release: Justin Goes Live, Copilot, and Semantic Search
Justin joins the team, Copilot lands in every investigation, and Rose gains semantic search, rule-based dispositions, and on-demand investigations.
Axle + Chainalysis: On-Chain Intelligence, Inside Every Investigation
On-chain risk signals and exposure data, pulled directly into Rose's investigations — no manual lookups, full audit trail.
How Rise Runs Transaction Monitoring Reviews Around the Clock
Rose investigates Rise's transaction monitoring alerts end to end — 24/7, in their existing stack, with a rationale on every disposition.
Axle MCP Server: Operate Your Agents from Claude, Cursor, and ChatGPT
Pull live alert metrics, trigger reruns, and inspect investigation context — from the AI tools you already use.
Winter 2025 Release: Chainalysis Integration, API V2, and Flag-Based Risk
Chainalysis on-chain intelligence, API V2, case management, custom PDF reporting, and transparent flag-based risk.
Introducing the Axle Blog — and What We Built at Our Hackathon
What we shipped during our internal hackathon: global search across Axle, a redesigned transactional email system, and this blog.
Summer 2025 Product Update: Case Management, OneSchema, and Smarter Screening
Case management and OneSchema CSV uploads in Rose; configurable PEP handling, location matching, and multi-point approvals in Baley.
Q1 2025 Product Release: What's New Across Baley, Rose, and Sam
OSINT and API upgrades for Baley, blockchain investigations and multi-institution SOPs for Rose, and Sam out of beta.
