Datos Insights: SAS sets bar for vendor stability and product features in fraud and AML case management

SAS is named a Market Leader in the newly published Datos Matrix: Fraud and AML Case Management report, which is based on Datos Insights' assessment of eight prominent fraud and anti-money laundering (AML) case management solution providers. Notably, SAS earned the highest Vendor Stability score - a reflection of its nearly five decades of global market leadership and its client retention rates that exceed 90%.

SAS also tied for the top Product Features score for the case management capabilities of its integrated, AI-powered financial crime management platform, built on cloud-native SAS^® Viya^® and harnessing the strengths of:

"As AI-fueled fraud and money laundering threats continue to grow in scale and sophistication, financial institutions need technology that unifies detection and investigation, underpinned by strong governance," said Becki LaPorte, Strategic Advisor in the Fraud and AML Practice at Datos Insights, who co-authored the report. "SAS brings those capabilities together in a single platform that gives organizations the depth to address complex threats, the agility to adapt to evolving schemes, and the intelligence to drive faster, more accurate decisions."

SAS takes "convergence of detection and investigation to an eleven"

From synthetic identities to mule account networks, fraud and money laundering are increasingly interconnected. This makes it difficult - and less effective - for regulated financial services organizations across banking, insurance and capital markets to address them in isolation. In fact, Datos estimates that converged case management platforms can boost investigational efficiency as much as 30% while also enhancing the accuracy of suspicious activity reports (SARs).

SAS excels at AI-driven automation and uniting fraud and AML functions. The Datos Matrix report lauds SAS' ability to "blur the lines between fraud detection and investigation" through innovations like continuous risk monitoring, advanced entity resolution and its unique "hibernation" feature, which pauses alerts while machine learning models gather evidence to escalate or clear cases.

"SAS has taken convergence of detection and investigation to an eleven," the report states. "Its case management excels at leveraging analytics to automate investigative workflows, enhance model transparency, and accelerate SAR narrative generation."

Other standout SAS capabilities cited in the report include:

• Generative AI tools for domain-specific workflows, SAR narrative generation and synthetic data validation.
• Conversational query interfaces for large language models.
• AI-guided rule and model development accelerators to streamline scenario creation.
• Network-level alerting and pattern matching to expose connected threats.
• Integrated quality assurance and control workflows to improve investigative accuracy.
• Clients' high satisfaction with the platform's functionality and flexibility.

"SAS delivers the architecture most appropriate for the type of fraud an organization is tackling," the report notes. "Its breadth of features and extensibility make it a standout in the market."

The Datos report also praises SAS' roadmap, which includes enhancements to LLM governance and orchestration, dynamic scenario tuning and financial intelligence unit SAR optimization.

"By unifying detection and investigation on a single, AI-driven platform, SAS cuts false positives and streamlines alert management, helping firms outpace adversaries and protect their customers," said Stu Bradley, Senior Vice President of Risk, Fraud and Compliance Solutions at SAS.

"With SAS Viya, organizations can deploy powerful, trustworthy analytics across the entire financial crime life cycle - from entity resolution to alert generation to SAR filing - with speed, transparency and confidence," added Bradley. "And they can extend these capabilities to areas such as credit, liquidity and operational risk to manage risk more efficiently across the enterprise."

Frontline experts agree: Integration is essential

A global survey of 850 financial crime professionals last year revealed that 78% view integrating their organizations' fraud and AML functions as critical to combating modern-day threats - yet only 16% said they had achieved that. What's holding them back?

The Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS), SAS and KPMG explore these and other findings in The Road to Integration: The State of AI and Machine Learning Adoption in Anti-Money Laundering Compliance. The 2025 survey report exposes where gaps persist - and reveals strategies top institutions are using to close them. Download it today to dive deeper.