Nasdaq is to acquire Sybenetix, a UK-based startup that applies behavioural analysis and cognitive computing to sniff our suspicious trading activity at asset management firms.
Nasdaq says it will acquire Sybenetix for an undisclosed amount and intends to fund the purchase price with cash on hand. It will join Nasdaq's Smarts and TradeGuard surveillance suite, which accounted for 12% of the exchange operator's revenue in Q1.
Sybenetix runs a benchmark profile of trading activity within an organisation and then uses algorithms to look for suspicous behaviour. Unusual trading patterns are reported to the compliance team for further investigation.
Adena Friedman, president and CEO of Nasdaq, says: "We believe behavioral science, cognitive computing and machine intelligence are essential to a successful, holistic surveillance offering and critical to efficient and effective organisational compliance with an increasingly intricate global regulatory environment. This acquisition accelerates our offering to the buy-side and advances our ambitions to expand market integrity controls into all segments of the capital markets."