Dutch banking group ING has announced plans to spin out its bond analytics tool Katana.
The tool will now operate as a standalone entity in London under the name Katana Labs.
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The bank will offload a majority interest in the analytics tool to third-party investors.
ING Ventures, the venture capital vehicle of the bank, will invest £1.5m in the entity as part of a £3m funding round.
Katana CEO Santiago Braje said: “A growing number of clients are discovering the advantages of using advanced analytics in decision-making. It enables them to work faster and more efficiently.
“Supported by ING Labs, we developed, tested and validated the technology. Now it’s time to move to the next phase as an independent fintech. We are very excited about the opportunities we see in developing our platform and expanding our client base.”
Powered by artificial intelligence, Katana enables bond traders to make informed decisions. To support traders, the tool aggregates data from historic and real-time sources to facilitate pricing decisions.
The tool was developed by the Dutch bank’s Financial Markets Global Credit Trading team in London and the Wholesale Banking Advanced Analytics team.
The bank rolled out the tool’s enhanced version called Katana Lens in 2018. The enhanced version was designed for the bond market’s buy-side investors.
