Reported by Katherine Doherty and Edward Ludlow

Nasdaq Inc. is throwing its weight behind technology that protects against financial crime as the demand to stop sophisticated, bad actors rises, according to Chief Executive Officer Adena Friedman.

“We are investing in the technology in a very significant way,” Friedman said Wednesday at the Consumer Technology Associationconference in Las Vegas. The anti-financial crime business is also Nasdaq’s fastest-growing, up roughly 20% year-over-year, she said. 

Nasdaq is enhancing its anti-crime offerings using artificial intelligence, which can predict and speed up the process of identifying criminal behavior, and rooting out bad actors in the industry, she said. The firm is working with banks, other exchanges and brokerage firms that can use the software to eliminate threats. 

“This is just the next leg of our growth,” said Friedman, 54.

Since become CEO in 2017, Friedman has helped Nasdaq evolve beyond its roots as an exchange. Over time, it has shifted its resources into offerings with more predictable revenue streams as opposed to relying solely on income from trading and market volatility. Last year, it completed its largest acquisition ever, buying software provider Adenza for $10.5 billion to help transform the trading and markets firm into a fully fledged financial-services company.

Read full report: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-01-10/nasdaq-invests-in-fighting-financial-crime-using-ai-technology