Moody’s Acquires PassFort And Agrees To Acquire kompany, Expanding KYC And Compliance Capabilities

Moody’s Corporation  announced that it has acquired PassFort Limited and entered into an agreement to acquire 360kompany AG , two European providers of onboarding and Know Your Customer (KYC) technology solutions. The acquisitions complement Moody’s technology, data, and analytical capabilities, and enhance its industry-leading customer solutions for KYC, anti-money laundering, compliance, and counterparty risk.

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“Our customers rely on our data and analytical tools to make decisions about who they do business with,” said Keith Berry, General Manager of Moody’s KYC business unit. “PassFort and kompany are innovators in the compliance and regulatory space, and their technologies will upgrade and accelerate our customers’ onboarding and monitoring processes.”

PassFort is a U.K. SaaS-based workflow platform for identity verification, customer onboarding, and risk analysis. Its software delivers data from over 25 third-party providers and automates the collection, verification, and secure storage of customer and supplier due diligence documentation. The integration of PassFort’s platform into Moody’s suite of KYC and compliance offerings will create a more holistic workflow solution, allowing customers to incorporate Moody’s data, including credit, cyber, ESG, and climate analytics, directly into their proprietary processes.

kompany is a Vienna, Austria-based platform for audit-proof business verification and KYC, operating a network of primary source information on more than 115 million companies across 200 jurisdictions. kompany’s API will enable Moody’s customers to complete shareholder analysis and entity verification in real-time, as well as retrieve original company filings and documents to meet their regulatory demands.

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The acquisition of PassFort and planned acquisition of kompany follow Moody’s recent investments in KYC capabilities. Moody’s will integrate both companies into its KYC business within Moody’s Analytics, where they will augment the Orbis company database and the GRID database of risk profiles, adverse news, politically exposed persons, and sanctions.

The acquisition of kompany is expected to close in the first quarter of 2022, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions, including the expiration or termination of applicable regulatory waiting periods, and will be funded with a combination of cash and shares of Moody’s Corporation common stock. The acquisition of PassFort was funded with cash. Neither is expected to have a material impact on Moody’s 2021 financial results.

Moody’s was advised on both transactions by Paul Hastings LLP. PassFort was advised by SVB Technology Investment Bank and Taylor Wessing LLP. kompany was advised by Schoenherr Attorneys at Law and BDO.

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