Sutherland and FlowX.AI have formed a partnership to deploy over 220 prebuilt AI agents for banks and insurance firms in North America and Europe. The collaboration aims to integrate AI capabilities directly onto legacy core banking systems, which can be up to 40 years old, avoiding the high costs and long timelines associated with full infrastructure replacement.
Under the agreement, Sutherland manages the business roadmap, workflow redesign, and agent configuration, while FlowX.AI provides the platform for agent deployment. These agents are designed to handle tasks such as mortgage underwriting, account opening, and anti-money laundering checks. Early deployments have reportedly reduced manual credit handoffs by 80% and lowered lending operating costs by 40% at unnamed institutions.
The market for AI-native banking infrastructure is attracting significant capital. Kastle, which develops an action layer for legacy cores, raised $24 million in a Series A round led by Insight Partners in September. Other firms are pursuing a replacement strategy; Maximum secured $30 million in seed funding, and 10x Banking obtained £40 million in debt and equity financing in August.
Industry data highlights the urgency of these upgrades. Research indicates that 52% of financial institutions view legacy technology as a barrier to real-time payment modernization, while 53% struggle with manual-intensive internal processes. AI agents can interface with existing systems via APIs, the Model Context Protocol, or direct computer use to perform tasks while maintaining strict operational controls.
