The team needed a technology partner that could evolve with them, withstand regulatory scrutiny and free analysts to focus on higher-risk work. Their goal was clear: modernize fast, but do it right.
Unit21 won the mandate because it offered a unified AML platform—Transaction Monitoring, Case Management, SAR Filing with validation, and Quality Control—in one place with role-based permissions and full audit trails. Green Dot moved to an end-to-end operating model where alerts become investigations and, when necessary, validated SARs, all within a single system. Green Dot was also pleasantly surprised by a collaborative implementation that prioritized time to market without compromising controls.
A core reason for choosing Unit21 was the no-code, test-before-you-trust rule lifecycle. Green Dot’s Risk Strategy team shifted from hand-built SQL to fully configurable rules that first run in shadow mode. Thresholds and logic are validated against historical and future patterns before publication, reducing false positives and rework while providing compliance leaders with confidence in the signal. Flexible integrations and deduplication further improve data quality so investigators see a truer picture the first time. Operationally, Unit21’s customized workflow defined a clean pipeline of alerts for Investigators (and AI Agents) to manage.
“Working with Unit21 has been fantastic — despite our complex system processing over 3.6 billion transactions a year, we went from contract to go-live in just seven months, which is remarkably fast for a regulated banking environment,” reflects Newman.
“The impact Unit21 has had on our AML workflow is unmatched. We’re end-to-end in Unit21—alerts, investigations, SARs and QC—so nothing falls through the cracks. The centralized flow keeps us faster, cleaner and audit-ready.”
Equally important, Unit21 matched Green Dot’s philosophy on product evolution. Where needs weren’t perfectly met out of the box, the approach was to enhance the core platform so capabilities improve for all customers while serving Green Dot’s specific requirements.
That mindset extends to AI. Rather than “chasing hype,” the teams chose a pragmatic roadmap that begins where human effort is heaviest: L1 alert triage. Green Dot’s goal is to reduce non-productive workload, accelerate escalations and support growth in partners and volume without headcount increases. Internally, the message is consistent and credible—AI augments analysts and prepares the operation to scale, it doesn’t replace expertise.
In short, Green Dot chose Unit21 because it delivers a modern AML backbone—configurable, controllable and audit-ready—paired with a partner willing to iterate alongside them. The result is not just new software, but a safer, faster way of working that channels human attention to the risks that matter most.