Fraud danger drives compliance investment

The growing danger of fraud is driving up investment in compliance, risk management projects, analytics and business intelligence software in the finance sector, according to a new report.

Analyst Datamonitor predicts that overall spend on business intelligence and analytics will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of almost seven per cent between 2002 and 2006, driven by a boom in anti money-laundering initiatives.

The study, Business intelligence and analytics in European financial services, predicts that, for compliance and risk management technologies combined, investment will amount to $1.7bn in 2006. Investment in business intelligence and analytics will hit $4.8bn by 2006.

Spend on fraud detection technologies are expected to experience a CAGR of 7.5 per cent over the next three years, reaching $420m in 2006.

Daniel Lessner, Datamonitor financial services technology analyst, said in a statement: "The business intelligence and analytics industry, as most of the IT space, has seen some slower years recently.

"The financial services sector - traditionally the largest market for business intelligence and analytics - is going to play a pivotal part in fuelling this recovery in the coming years, as banks and insurance companies are pressed to satisfy regulatory requirements and meet pressure from shareholders to provide a more complete picture of risk exposure, compliance and profitability."