MVB Bank has signed a multi-year agreement with Bretton AI to run its back-office compliance operations, covering anti-money laundering transaction monitoring and Know Your Customer (KYC) alert reviews. The deal lets the West Virginia-based bank grow compliance capacity as its fintech business scales without adding back-office headcount at the same rate.
MVB has spent two decades building a national business serving fintech, payments, and other high-growth sectors from its community banking base. As that business grows, the work required to monitor activity and conduct due diligence grows in lockstep. Bretton AI will provide a dedicated U.S.-based team that uses the Bretton AI platform to complete AML and KYC alerts and cases in line with MVB's policies and risk framework.
"MVB built a national fintech business on top of a community bank, and that growth brings increasingly complex compliance demands," said Julie O'Connor, Chief Compliance Officer at MVB Bank. "Bretton AI gives us a way to scale monitoring and due-diligence capacity while keeping MVB in control of the program, its decisions and its filings. That allows our team to focus on the highest-risk work, support responsible growth, and advance our broader AI strategy."
How the arrangement works
Under the agreement, Bretton AI's U.S.-based analysts review alerts and complete enhanced due diligence work using the Bretton AI platform. A trained analyst reviews every AI-assisted output before it reaches MVB - a human-in-the-loop model the bank says produces more consistent reviews at lower cost than a traditional headcount-based build-out.
Pricing is tied to outcomes, not hours. Fees are based on completed work, so MVB adds capacity without adding headcount-driven costs. The arrangement follows the launch of Bretton AI Managed Services, an AI-native alternative to traditional compliance outsourcing that combines the platform with a dedicated operations team.
Market context
The agreement comes as FinCEN and federal regulators consider proposed changes to AML and CFT program requirements that put more emphasis on risk-based effectiveness and responsible use of modern technology. MVB's move is part of a broader shift in which banks are applying AI for Finance to routine compliance work while keeping risk decisions in-house.
Rick Shooman, who has 25 years of experience building financial crime programs, leads Bretton AI's Services business. "MVB is showing what it looks like to scale a sophisticated fintech business without recreating the same labor-heavy operating model around it," he said. "Bretton brings the platform and the operating team together in one accountable service. We perform the work under MVB's policies and standards, while MVB remains in control of its risk program."
Why this matters for operations professionals
The deal offers a concrete model for operations teams facing volume growth without budget for proportional headcount increases. Instead of scaling staff to match work, MVB pays for completed work and keeps a trained analyst in the loop on every output. For teams exploring AI for Operations, the structure is the part worth studying. A vendor takes on the operational load while the institution keeps control of decisions and filings. Costs track output rather than hours.
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