The firm’s expertise and offerings directly address the standards for compliance implemented to ensure the integrity of the financial system, protect consumers and build trust through transparency.

Promontory, combined with IBM's deep industry expertise and Watson’s cognitive capabilities, will directly address the massive operational effort and manual cost of constantly changing regulation and risk management requirements. With the completion of the acquisition, Promontory will help accelerate IBM’s development of cognitive solutions for risk and compliance.

Promontory’s professionals will train Watson, which will learn by continuously ingesting regulatory information as it is created and through interaction in real-world applications. This includes solutions for tracking evolving regulatory obligations, expectations and control requirements, as well as solutions that address specific compliance needs, such as financial risk modeling, surveillance and insider threat, and financial crimes including counter fraud, anti-money laundering (AML) and Know Your Customer (KYC).

The acquisition complements IBM's Industry Platforms business, formed to develop open vertical platforms – the first comprehensive “as a service” offerings designed from the ground up for individual industries. These platforms will integrate IBM Cloud, Watson and capabilities from across digital ecosystems of specialized providers, and serve multiple clients in an industry – delivering dramatically reduced costs for outcomes spanning speed, quality, audit-ability, security and transparency.

Promontory will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of IBM.