Brussels-based risk and reporting vendor FRSGlobal has acquired Swiss outfit Iris integrated risk management for an undisclosed sum.
Privately-held Iris was founded in 1992 by Jurg Winter and Willi Brammertz. The firm's flagship riskpro system is used by over 230 financial institutions in around 20 countries and covers all functionalities related to risk, ALM, IFRS, capital requirements and capital planning.
FRSGlobal, which is 70% owned by Carlyle Group and 30% owned by Kennet Partners, says the acquisition will enable it to offer a combined risk and regulatory reporting service to financial services firms.
"Risk and regulatory software have traditionally developed separately - we see this as the ideal time to pursue a strategic acquisition and bring the two together," says Steve Husk, CEO, FRSGlobal.
"Given the growing sophistication of the emerging markets and their increased attention to risk and regulation, this acquisition represents an important part of our future growth plans," continues Husk.
"Regulation such as Basel, RegNMS and MiFID was already creating a need for appropriate trading, data and risk infrastructure to be put in place," adds David Carratt, MD, Kennet Partners. "The credit crisis however has changed the nature of the beast and consequently created a host of other gaps in the existing operations of financial institutions. Risk and regulation has perhaps never been more important, or more debated, and if any companies are to benefit from this new environment they are within the financial technology space."