Risk.net owner acquires risk tech research specialist Chartis

Chartis focuses on risk management systems and practices

Peyman Mestchian, Chartis

Incisive Media, the owner of Risk.net, has bought Chartis, a specialist provider of compliance and risk technology research, in a deal announced today (June 8).

Chartis provides analysis of systems, products, vendors and trends in the global risk technology market for buy- and sell-side firms, as well as of corporate governance and risk management practices.

The deal is based on synergies between the Chartis content and client base and that of Incisive Media, which alongside Risk.net also owns the Waters stable of technology publications and Risk Library – a resource for industry white papers and other analysis. Incisive Media also produces conferences and training courses.

"Chartis is a business we have long admired and we are delighted it is now part of our Risk and Trading Technology stable, it will allow us to build closer and deeper relationships with customers in our existing risk technology market," says Tim Weller, chairman and chief executive of Incisive Media.

Incisive is acquiring the full share capital of Chartis.

It sounds like a niche area, but it's a $50 billion market

This year, Chartis reports have covered enterprise-level stress testing, buy-side risk management trends, and systems for the management of liquidity, operational and energy trading risks. The company also produces the RiskTech100 annual ranking of technology vendors.

"It sounds like a niche area, but it's a $50 billion market," says Peyman Mestchian, managing partner at Chartis. "The team we've brought together – the in-house team and our advisory board – are all practitioners. We've all built and implemented systems, and we understand at the lowest level of granularity what it takes to buy, develop and implement risk and compliance systems. That practitioner-level knowledge is unmatched in the market."

The integration of the two firms means existing customers of both will benefit, he says. "For data and intelligence gathering, combining the two firms' networks will enrich it in terms of both the quantity and the quality of market intelligence."