Wolters Kluwer Financial Services Acquires FRSGlobal

Regulatory compliance and risk management solutions provider Wolters Kluwer Financial Services (Minneapolis) is acquiring FRSGlobal, a Brussels-based global financial regulatory reporting and risk management business, from The Carlyle Group and growth equity investor Kennet Partners.

This acquisition will enable Wolters Kluwer Financial Services to offer financial organizations comprehensive compliance and risk solutions that cover operational risk, compliance risk, and financial risk and reporting—meeting the major risk requirements of financial organizations worldwide, according to the company. FRSGlobal’s solutions enable international financial institutions to centralize multi-country risk and regulatory reporting, and address major financial regulatory, compliance and risk management requirements globally. Wolters Kluwer Financial Services reports that the addition of FRSGlobal creates the world’s largest compliance and risk management business focused on financial services, with more than 15,000 banking, insurance and securities customers across the globe.

“The financial crisis, globalization, and increasing regulatory scrutiny have created a complex and challenging environment for financial organizations,” said Brian Longe, CEO of Wolters Kluwer Financial & Compliance Services, in a press release. “Financial organizations are requiring intelligent and comprehensive solutions and services to help them address the complexities of a rapidly evolving regulatory environment. Together, FRSGlobal and Wolters Kluwer Financial Services will be able to provide global financial organizations with the most comprehensive compliance and risk management solutions available.”

Currently more than 1,000 financial organizations—including 41 of the top 50 banks in the world—use FRSGlobal regulatory reporting applications. Meanwhile, more than 14,000 financial services organizations around the world work with Wolters Kluwer Financial Services to help manage their regulatory compliance and risk management programs through the company’s risk analytics and controls; regulatory intelligence; transaction and origination management solutions; and policy and procedure management tools and solutions.

Michael Wand, managing director and co-head of Carlyle’s European Technology Partners team (CETP), said: “This achievement with FRSGlobal is a great endorsement of our original investment thesis of transforming a traditional software license business into a value-enhancing subscription-based recurring revenue model, based on strong domain expertise and content orientation. We believe Wolters Kluwer is an excellent partner for the business and wish them every success in taking the business forward.”

Katherine Burger is Editorial Director of Bank Systems & Technology and Insurance & Technology, members of UBM TechWeb's InformationWeek Financial Services. She assumed leadership of Bank Systems & Technology in 2003 and of Insurance & Technology in 1991. In addition to ... View Full Bio