Themis, a UK-based financial crime prevention firm, unveiled its new “AI Investigator” platform at the Abu Dhabi Global Market (ADGM) auditorium on Wednesday, positioning the tool as a game-changer in the fight against money laundering and complex fraud.
The platform promises to dramatically cut investigation times, reducing processes that typically take weeks to just minutes. According to the company, it can scan millions of data points in seconds, detecting hidden links and exposing suspicious structures that often remain buried under layers of complex information.
Funded in part by an Innovate UK grant and trained on Themis’ proprietary datasets, the tool integrates ownership mapping, adverse media scanning and regulatory checks with large-scale behavioural analysis. It is built to be cloud-agnostic and scalable, enabling adoption across a wide range of sectors, including banking, real estate, professional services and government institutions.
“Criminals rely on overwhelming investigators with mountains of data and deliberately opaque structures,” Themis CEO Dickon Johnstone told Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the launch. “Our Investigator can process millions of records at the click of a button, drawing connections that would be impossible for any human team to uncover in real time.”
Johnstone highlighted Abu Dhabi as a fitting venue for the global launch, citing the emirate’s investment in technology and its leadership in developing forward-looking strategies. “The UAE has shown strong commitment to innovation through initiatives such as the AI University and a national strategy that sets global benchmarks. Abu Dhabi offers exactly the kind of environment where disruptive technology like ours can thrive,” he said.
The launch comes as Abu Dhabi accelerates its push into advanced technologies, backed by Dh13 billion in planned investment in artificial intelligence between 2025 and 2027. Institutions such as ADGM and Hub71 are central to this strategy, driving adoption of cutting-edge tools across sectors in line with the Falcon Economy vision.
Johnstone said Themis’ long-term aim is to make enhanced due diligence widely accessible. “In a few years, we’ll look back and wonder how compliance checks were ever done without such technology,” he said. “This isn’t just about making investigations faster—it’s about making compliance instinctive and giving regulators, businesses and governments the upper hand against financial crime.”
With global financial crimes costing trillions annually, Themis hopes its new platform will offer organizations a more efficient way to protect themselves, reduce risk and keep pace with increasingly sophisticated criminal networks.
