IBM issnapping up consultancy firm Promontory Financial Group in a bid to beef up therisk management and compliance assessment capabilities of Watson, its advancedcomputing system.

The goal isfor Watson to be able to sift through, process and manage the data used byfinancial institutions to meet their various regulatory requirements. Watsonwill draw on the experiences of Promontory's professionals and willcontinuously be fed regulatory information as it is created and throughinteraction in real-world applications.

Once thedeal closes, Promontory will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of IBM.

IBM aims tooffer solutions such as tracking constantly changing regulatory obligations,expectations and control requirements, as well as solutions that addressspecific compliance needs, such as financial risk modeling, surveillance,anti-money laundering and Know Your Customer, all while bringing down the costof regulatory compliance for financial institutions.

"Webelieve the future of business and regulation will be driven by the need foradvanced technology alongside deep subject-matter expertise," Promontory'sfounder and CEO Eugene Ludwig said in a Sept. 29 news release.

The releaseindicated that the planned acquisition is set to close late this year, subjectto applicable regulatory review. Deal terms were not disclosed in the release.