IBM is letting Watson loose on Wall Street regulations

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IBM is unleashing Watson, the tech company’s artificial intelligence platform, on financial regulations.

On Wednesday, the New York-based technology firm rolled out a suite of software solutions that will help financial institutions manage their regulatory responsibilities.

“Essentially, we’re embedding our deep regulatory experience into Watson so that a broader group of professionals can benefit from this knowledge and help their organizations operate more effectively and efficiently,” said Gene Ludwig, founder and chief executive at Promontory Financial Group, a subsidiary of IBM involved in the roll-out.

The three offerings, which are powered by Watson, are as follows:

• Watson Regulatory Compliance. This offering will help financial firms better identify the regulations to which they have to subscribe.
• IBM Financial Crimes Insight with Watson. This service uses advanced analytics to help firms understand and act on criminal threats.
• IBM Algo One Big Data Foundation. This solution marries big data and risk management technology.

Financial firms pay a high price to comply with regulations. According to McKinsey, the international consulting firm, banks dedicate approximately 10% to 15% of their operational spending budgets to managing risk and compliance.