New: the ZERO™ Agent Studio. Watch an AI agent go from pilot to production, controls and all. Book a 20-minute walkthrough →
NEWZERO™ Agent Studio

Agentic AI for regulated financial services

Your AI agents work in the pilot. Let's get them into production.

We help banks and credit unions get AI agents out of pilot. We size the business value in cost, capacity and turnaround. ZERO™ keeps every agent action within delegated limits and produces the decision evidence model risk needs. Start with one workflow in a scoped six-week sprint.

Explore the interactive demo Discuss your workflow →
Illustrative scenario47% lowerCost per completed decision, all-in: review, rework, escalation and platform costs included
Illustrative scenario$1.7M modelledAnnual capacity value from one underwriting agent. Released capacity, not cash savings
Exam-readyEvidence your Fed, OCC, FDIC or NCUA examiner can verify
Standards-mappedNIST AI RMFISO/IEC 42001EU AI ActISO/IEC 27001

Figures come from a modelled mid-size bank in our demonstration, not client results. In an engagement, your own baseline replaces them.

Published in NYULAWProgram on Corporate Compliance & Enforcement CDOMAGAZINE CIOTechWorld TheNational CIO Review

See it working

The ZERO™ Agent Studio

A working demonstration environment: a mortgage underwriting agent at an illustrative bank, shown in three screens. In an engagement, the same approach is configured on your workflow and your data.

Agent Studio Value screen: underwriter hours, cycle time, cost per completed decision falling from $510 to $269, and $1.74M modelled annual capacity value1 · The value

What the agent is worth, honestly counted

Adjustable assumptions, workflow effort and the total cost per completed decision, with review, rework and escalation included.

 Agent Studio Control screen: a hidden instruction in an applicant's paystub tells the agent to email the loan file outside the bank, and the control blocks it before it executes2 · The control

Every action checked before it runs

Clean execution, authority limits, escalation to an authorised person, and unauthorised actions blocked.

 Agent Studio Proof screen: six weeks of pilot KPIs against target bands and this week's alerts, including blocked prompt-injection attempts and a passed kill-switch drill3 · The proof

What leadership and examiners see

Business KPIs, control exceptions and an evidence pack generated from the decisions the agent made.
See the live demo in a 20-minute walkthrough

What ZERO™ adds to your existing agent

Your agent delivers the productivity. ZERO™ makes it approvable.

The pilot works. Then model risk, audit and the board ask who authorised it, what stops it and where the evidence is. ZERO™ answers on whatever platform your agent runs.

CapabilityWhat it means for you
Authority checked before executionActions stay within delegated limits
Approval and escalation requirementsExceptions reach an authorised person
Step and spending ceilingsRunaway activity has defined boundaries
Revocation and stop controlsTeams can intervene when conditions change
Reconstructable execution evidenceReviewers can trace actions, approvals and outcomes

The ROI

Fund the number your CFO can hold you to

Most agent business cases compare a few dollars of compute with a fully loaded employee. We count everything it takes to get a decision out the door.

Illustrative scenario
47%

Modelled cost reduction

$510 → $269 per completed mortgage decision, all-in, with the credit decision still made by a person.

Illustrative scenario
$1.7M

Modelled annual capacity value

About 14 underwriters' worth of capacity at 600 loans a month. It supports growth or avoids future hiring; it is not automatic cash savings.

What the model countsAgent run costHuman reviewReworkEscalationsPlatform, monitoring and ZERO™ control operations

These are benefit measures for the agent-enabled workflow, not ZERO™ alone. Return on investment and payback depend on your implementation cost and how much of the benefit you realise, so we calculate them with you rather than quote them here.

Assess your ROI and payback. We build your business case from your own 90-day baseline: implementation and integration investment, recurring costs including ZERO™, adoption ramp-up, how released capacity is used, first-year net benefit and payback.

Assess your ROI and payback

All your AI, not just agents

One ZERO™ operating model for every kind of AI

Most institutions run far more AI than they have on record, much of it inside vendor products. ZERO™ governs all of it, with controls that get stronger as autonomy rises. Agents are simply the hardest case.

Models and vendor AI

Credit, fraud, pricing, and AI inside the platforms you buy

  • Found and on the record
  • Validated, with drift watched
  • Vendor changes caught before they surprise you
GenAI assistants

Copilots, chat and drafting tools across the bank

  • Clear usage rules and owners
  • Sensitive data kept out
  • Shadow AI found and dealt with
Agents that act

AI that takes actions in your systems on someone's behalf

  • Bounded authority, set in writing
  • Checked at the moment it acts
  • Stoppable in under a minute
Control intensity rises with autonomy
KnownEvery AI system and agent is on record, including AI inside your vendors' products.
OwnedA named executive is accountable for each one. Not a committee.
BoundedWhat it may do without a person, and up to what limit, is set in writing.
ControlledEvery action is checked when it happens, and it can be stopped in under a minute.
EvidencedAny decision can be reconstructed for an examiner, months later.

What you buy

Bring ZERO™ controls into your existing AI environment

You receive a scoped implementation that uses the reusable ZERO™ controls, templates and evidence approach, on the platforms you already run. The Agent Studio is our demonstration environment: it shows the approach before you commit.

The core offer · 6 weeks

Agent Production Sprint

One workflow from pilot to a production-readiness assessment. Your institution makes the production decision; we give it what it needs to make it.

Scope your six-week sprint
  • Workflow baseline
  • Cost model
  • Configured controls
  • Test results, including a timed stop drill
  • Evidence package for model risk
  • Deployment recommendation, or a documented decision not to deploy
Half day

Executive workshop

  • Priority workflow chosen
  • Baseline and value case
  • Named owner, go or no-go
Identify your priority workflow
3–8 weeks

AI Governance Diagnostic

  • Register of all AI, incl. vendor and shadow AI
  • Risk tier and owner for each system
  • 90-day remediation plan
Assess your AI portfolio
Ongoing

Assurance and fractional CAIO

  • Monthly KPI review against bands
  • Re-testing when anything changes
  • Board reporting and examiner readiness
Discuss ongoing leadership

Strategy and training services are listed on the Services page. Pricing is agreed in the first conversation.

Published and cited

The thinking behind ZERO™, published

Our work on agentic AI accountability is read by compliance officers, general counsel and board directors, not just technologists.

NYU Law · PCCEWhen Two Authorized Agents Do Something No One ApprovedSep 2026 NYU Law · PCCEThe Human in the Loop Is Not a Control Unless It Can Change the OutcomeSep 2026 CDO MagazineHow to Detect Hidden AI Systems Before They Become a Regulatory FindingJun 2026 CDO MagazineAI Governance Roles: Who Owns What as AI Scales in the EnterpriseMay 2026 CDO MagazineHow AI Governance Risk and Compliance Is Operationalized at Leading EnterprisesMay 2026 CIO TechWorldThe Shadow AI Advantage: Why Governance Accelerates ROIDec 2025 National CIO ReviewNamed in "70 CIOs On the Move"Sep 2025

Why AI Advantages

Why institutions choose us

Big-firm depth without the big-firm team, timeline or platform agenda.

25 years

Inside regulated financial services

Experience from inside Citi, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, MetLife and credit unions. Built under examination, not in theory.

Any platform

Vendor and tool agnostic

Microsoft, Salesforce, ServiceNow, AWS, Google or your own build. No platform to sell, no lock-in, no conflict of interest.

Architecture

An operating model, not a policy binder

ZERO™ is built into how AI is approved, run and monitored, so every new model or agent follows the same path instead of starting over.

ROI first

Value before paperwork

Every engagement starts from the number your CFO will hold you to, and ends with a production decision you can defend, not a report.

Have an agent stuck in pilot?

Twenty minutes, one workflow you care about. We'll show you the Agent Studio and tell you honestly what it would take.

Discuss your workflow rehan@aiadvantages.ai