IBM Plans to Buy Promontory Financial Group

By Ryan Tracy 

International Business Machines Corp. plans to purchase consultancy Promontory Financial Group LLC., the two companies said Thursday, creating a new subsidiary dubbed 'Watson Financial Services.'

The companies didn't disclose financial details of the deal, which they said is subject to regulatory approvals. The idea, they said, is to combine Promontory's financial regulatory expertise with Watson, IBM's artificial intelligence computer system , to help banks meet ever-rising regulatory expectations in areas such as anti-money-laundering detection systems, consumer complaint databases, and so-called stress tests.

Financial regulatory requirements are "rapidly outstripping the capacity of humans to keep up," a joint press release from the companies said.

Privately held Promontory was founded in 2001 by Eugene Ludwig, a former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency, and has hired a small army of former regulators and government officials to advise financial firms. It now has about 600 full-time employees and 19 offices, 14 outside the U.S.

Write to Ryan Tracy at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 29, 2016 11:14 ET (15:14 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.