Block Convey vs ibl.ai (2026)
Both answer the same supervisory question, how a bank evidences control over AI that is already running, and they answer it from opposite ends of the stack. Block Convey watches the models you have: it captures every language model call, tool invocation and reasoning step as a tamper proof immutable trace, versions prompts as controlled artifacts, and exports regulator facing evidence packs in under a minute. ibl.ai replaces the stack with one you own: self hosted inside your virtual private cloud, on premise or fully air gapped with no route to the public internet, platform code under an open license, your model risk team pinning versions and signing validation packs, and every call logged into your own security monitoring system. Both document in detail the regulations they address, how models are validated and which models they are built on, with no mechanism in common. Neither names a financial institution as a customer, so neither has customer results to show. Instrument first if the estate already exists. Rebuild if it does not.
- You already have agents in production and no record of what they did. Every language model call, tool invocation and reasoning step is captured as a tamper proof immutable trace, compliance teams review session level transcripts rather than raw logs, and evidence packs export in under sixty seconds.
- Your obligation mapping has to run obligation by obligation. United States banking model risk guidance, state cybersecurity rules, fair lending, insurance model bulletins, the EU AI Act and DORA are each mapped individually, including that adverse action notices must carry specific reasons.
- Regulated data must not reach a consumer assistant at all. A managed browser extension intercepts paste and prompt traffic at the endpoint, and guardrails strip the eighteen safe harbor identifiers, social security numbers, card numbers, dates of birth and credentials at ingestion before anything reaches storage.
- Your model risk team has to own the validation rather than receive it. It pins specific model versions, validates the chosen version against the workload and signs off the validation pack, and a model swap becomes a new validation event rather than a vendor surprise.
- The deployment has to sit inside a perimeter your examiner already inspects. Managed private cloud in your own account, on premise installation and fully air gapped operation with no route to the public internet are all offered, with identity bound to your own provider.
- You want the arrangement to survive the vendor. Platform code ships under a permissive open source license with a perpetual platform license, the ontology you build is yours to keep, extend and govern, and engineers transfer ownership to your own team.
This comparison is published by AI FinTech Index, an independent research platform that publishes independent ratings of AI vendors for financial services. Block Convey and ibl.ai are each graded against the same capability taxonomy, from each vendor's own public materials and the regulatory record, under the AI FinTech Index verification standard. No vendor pays for placement, and no vendor has reviewed this page. How this evidence is graded
Plain facts
| Block Convey | ibl.ai | |
|---|---|---|
| Primary category | Compliance, Surveillance & RegTech | Compliance, Surveillance & RegTech |
| Founded | 2023 | 2016 |
| Headquarters | United States | New York, New York, United States |
| Website | blockconvey.com | ibl.ai |
Side by Side
Select any grade to read the note behind it.
| Axis | B Block Convey |
I ibl.ai |
|---|---|---|
| AI Centrality | ||
| Autonomy and Oversight Model | ||
| Model Risk Management and Transparency | ||
| Operational and Outcome Evidence | ||
| AI Safety and Data Stewardship | ||
| GLBA and Data Privacy Posture | ||
| Security Certifications and Trust Center | ||
| Regulatory Status and Licensure | ||
| AI Governance and Bias Disclosure | ||
| AI Liability and Recourse | ||
| Model Supply Chain Disclosure | ||
| Core Systems and Integration Depth | ||
| Deployment Model and Data Residency | ||
| Commercial Transparency | ||
| Institution and Segment Coverage |
The short version of each
Block Convey
Block Convey builds two AI governance layers for banks, asset managers, insurers and fintechs. PRISM captures every language model call, tool invocation and reasoning step in production, scores quality, applies guardrails that strip regulated identifiers at ingestion, and exports regulator facing evidence packs in under a minute from tamper proof immutable traces. PRISMX is a managed browser extension enforcing data loss prevention on consumer assistants at the endpoint. According to the AI FinTech Index, it documents in detail the regulations it addresses, how models are validated and the models and providers it is built on. Its obligation mapping runs obligation by obligation across United States banking model risk guidance, state cybersecurity rules, fair lending, insurance model bulletins, the EU AI Act and DORA. It says little about customer results, security certifications, what happens when it is wrong or pricing, and it names no customer anywhere.
Source: AI FinTech Index, 2026
ibl.ai
ibl.ai supplies a self hosted, model agnostic agent platform to banks, broker dealers, asset managers and wealth firms, deployed inside the institution's own virtual private cloud, on premise, or fully air gapped with no route to the public internet. According to the AI FinTech Index, it documents in detail its regulatory position, how models are validated, the models it is built on, where it runs and where data sits, and how customer data is kept apart. Its argument is that supervisory model risk guidance places validation, governance and monitoring on the bank rather than the vendor, so the institution pins model versions, signs validation packs, treats any model swap as a new validation event, and receives every call logged into its own security monitoring system with model version, prompt template, input hash, output, decision flag and disposition. It says little about what its agents do on their own and who checks them, bias and fairness, what happens when it is wrong, customer results or pricing.
Source: AI FinTech Index, 2026
Common questions
Is Block Convey better than ibl.ai for AI governance?
They solve the problem at different layers and the right one depends on what you already run. Block Convey is observability and evidence over an AI estate that exists: it instruments any system making model calls in any language or framework, with setup stated at under fifteen minutes, and turns what those systems did into an auditable record. ibl.ai is the substrate itself, a self hosted agent platform where the institution owns the models, the deployment and the orchestration code. If you have agents in production and cannot answer what they did, instrument first. If you are choosing how to run agents at all, ibl.ai is the architectural decision and Block Convey is the layer you would still want on top of it. Graded by AI FinTech Index against the same capability axes from each vendor's own published materials, verified August 23, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Which one satisfies our model risk management obligations?
Neither satisfies them for you, because the guidance places validation, governance and monitoring on the institution rather than the vendor, and both are clear about that. ibl.ai states the point directly and builds around it: your model risk team pins the version, validates it against the workload and signs the validation pack, a model swap becomes a new validation event, and logs land in your own monitoring system rather than the vendor's, which is what makes them evidence you control. Block Convey produces the artifacts that populate a validation file, with immutable traces, agent trajectories, model audits, versioned prompts and evidence packs exporting in under a minute. Both are inputs to your program, not substitutes for it. Graded by AI FinTech Index against the same capability axes from each vendor's own published materials, verified August 23, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
How much do Block Convey and ibl.ai cost?
Neither publishes a price. Block Convey sells two products with different natural units, since one captures every model call and the other deploys per endpoint, so cost could scale with either usage volume or headcount and nothing indicates which. ibl.ai publishes two structural commitments without a number attached: the platform license is perpetual rather than subscription, and a core component ships under a permissive open source license, both of which materially change total cost and lock in. Neither indicates what implementation or forward deployed engineering costs, which on either product is likely the larger line. Graded by AI FinTech Index against the same capability axes from each vendor's own published materials, verified August 23, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Where does each publish the most, and the least?
Both publish the most on the regulations they address, how models are validated and which models they are built on, through entirely different mechanisms. ibl.ai also documents in detail where it runs, where data sits and how customer data is kept apart. Both say little about customer results or about what happens when the product is wrong. Graded by AI FinTech Index against the same capability axes from each vendor's own published materials, verified August 23, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Does either one have a named bank as a customer?
No, and that is the shared weakness worth raising in both first calls. Block Convey names no customer, institution or deployment anywhere, and its verifiable public presence amounts to a place in an industry sandbox program and conference participation. ibl.ai publishes real scale, more than 400 organizations and 1.6 million users with partner status at three major cloud providers, and every named customer is a university rather than a financial institution, with no bank, broker dealer or asset manager identified. Graded by AI FinTech Index against the same capability axes from each vendor's own published materials, verified August 23, 2026. No vendor pays for placement.
Related comparisons
Other published head to head assessments involving these vendors or their closest peers. The full set for this category is on the Compliance, Surveillance & RegTech page.
Neither company names a financial institution as a customer. That gap applies to both equally, since both sell governance products whose value proposition is surviving examination. Block Convey names no customer, institution or deployment at all, with verifiable presence amounting to a place in an industry sandbox program and conference participation. ibl.ai states more than 400 organizations and 1.6 million users, and every named customer is a university; no bank, broker dealer or asset manager appears anywhere, and no deployment count, workload or outcome figure is published for the financial services business specifically.