For a long time, the complexity of many operations was treated as immovable. Information moved between systems because people moved it. Work progressed because someone picked it up from a queue. Teams reconciled discrepancies, chased missing inputs, and coordinated handoffs because there was no practical alternative.

We improved those processes over time, but rarely had the opportunity to fundamentally reconsider the assumptions underneath them. Celeris, which we feature in this inaugural issue of Insights Monthly, is one of those fundamental shifts.

That question ultimately led us beyond automating individual tasks toward orchestrating the flow of information itself; allowing systems to do more of the coordination while bringing people in where their expertise and judgment matter most.

This isn't AI scaffolding – it's an entirely new blueprint for how work gets done.

That mandate extends well beyond KYC. Across Applied AI, we are looking for the assumptions hidden inside complex processes and asking which of them still need to be true.  For example, we’re questioning the archaic nature of page numbers in Doc AI and rethinking the core flow of messaging with Email AI. 

This newsletter is a window into that work: what we are building, what we are learning, and how those ideas are becoming real outcomes across CIB Operations. Our inaugural issue also features an Employee Appreciation Week recap, a leadership spotlight, some of our latest blog posts, invitations to our upcoming events, and much more.

In the age of AI, we are still early – and that's what makes this moment so exciting.

For decades, Know Your Customer (KYC) has been synonymous with friction. Weeks of chasing documents, manually verifying data and navigating disconnected handoffs between compliance, operations, and client teams as emails and requests trudged back and forth.  

So the Applied AI team asked: What if complex operational work didn't have to move from person to person to advance? 

That question is at the heart of Celeris, a name with Latin roots meaning swift and agile. Applied AI's new orchestration system with end-to-end automation capabilities is built to transform processes historically dependent on manual coordination. Agents source and validate information, process documents, reconcile discrepancies, and move work forward — and pull in human oversight as needed. 

By orchestrating information and processes, Celeris limits redundant requests, manual handoffs, swivel-chair work, and time spent in queues — expediting results for our teams and clients.

The Breakthrough Behind Celeris

Rather than routing information manually, agents assume responsibility for discrete tasks, including KYC renewals, authorized signer processes, identity verification, sanctions screening, beneficial owner resolution, and document validation. Our agents shrink KYC timelines from days to a matter of moments. They negotiate what data is needed, where to get it, and how to expedite resolutions at maximum speed. 

Celeris protects oversight by positioning it into key moments, like flagged discrepancies and elevated risk assessments. When oversight isn't necessary, agent work is are logged and scoped to specific tasks – creating a granular and inspectable audit trail. 

Celeris is a foundation for how AI-first financial services will operate across regulated workflows, and creates a path to scale automation into adjacent domains like monitoring, inquiry resolution, and broader cross-institution collaboration, without sacrificing control, transparency, or accountability.  KYC is truly just the beginning.