Data Governance Underpinnings of AI Still Lacking, Says EDM Association

The EDM Association’s 2026 Global Data Management Benchmark Report states that organizations including financial institutions are increasing investment in artificial intelligence while failing to build the necessary data and governance foundations.

The findings are based on a survey of more than 435 organizations across more than 50 countries. President of the EDM Association John Bottega said AI is becoming a stress test for enterprise data.The study

indicates that 31 per cent of surveyed organizations report advanced data strategy capabilities and 19 per cent demonstrate mature adoption of analytics. The organisation also launched a benchmark repository and dashboard, following previous benchmark studies aligned to its data management capability assessment model framework.

Financial Institutions Among Targets for Motif’s AI-led Wealth Data Platform

Artificial intelligence wealth advisory company Motif has launched an artificial intelligence financial intelligence system called Clarity, which tracks links between markets, assets and financial relationships alongside how and why they alter over time.

Financial institutions can combine the platform into products to allow customers to make investment decisions, whilst analysts and product teams can use it to track market changes.

Co-founder and chief executive officer Mario Leoni said AI products in financial services retrieve information rather than understand it. Multiple financial institutions signed contracts before the launch, representing more than 1.5 million users.

Arcesium Adds AI-led Arcesium Intelligence to Platform

Arcesium has embedded Arcesium Intelligence, an artificial intelligence platform for institutional investment, into its data management and operations platforms to enable firms to deploy automated workflows.

Users can access a library of more than 100 pre-configured agents or build custom applications using a self-service development platform.

The platform gives firms the control, context and flexibility to make AI a core part of how they operate across the investment lifecycle, Arcesium chief executive Gaurav Suri said.

The software automates processes such as net asset value reviews, portfolio monitoring and data quality monitoring within firm-defined governance parameters.

The launch follows the release of AI features in December, which included unstructured data processing capabilities and a model context protocol server.

FactSet Integrates Private Markets Valuation Workflow with Valutico

FactSet has created an integrated valuation workflow for private capital markets in collaboration with valuation technology provider Valutico.

The tie-up connects portfolio data, valuation modelling and reporting into a single system to replace manual spreadsheet tasks.

Financial data from Cobalt, FactSet’s monitoring tool, flows into the Valutico platform where analysts can apply income, market and asset-based methodologies.

Finalised enterprise and equity values return to the Cobalt system to be tracked alongside performance metrics. Analysts can access FactSet market data and transaction multiples within the workflow, which expands on the company’s existing portfolio monitoring and investor reporting tools.

“The methodology, breadth, auditability and consistency required across a growing portfolio of companies demands a purpose-built platform,” said Emily Monaghan, Factset senior vice president and senior director of private capital. “Valutico brings that, and with FactSet’s market data – public company financials, estimates, comps, and transaction multiples – natively integrated into the workflow, our clients get a complete solution that is unique in the market.”

SAP Buys Dremio Data Lakehouse to Support AI, Data Integration

SAP has acquired data lakehouse platform Dremio, enabling the enterprise applications provider to integrate its own and third-party data in its SAP Business Data Cloud and to support analytical and agentic artificial intelligence workloads.
The deal, which remains subject to regulatory approval, would help eliminate bottlenecks to take customers from fragmented data to governed intelligence on a single open platform, the companies said.

“Enterprise AI doesn’t stall because the models aren’t good enough; it stalls because the data isn’t ready for AI agents,” said Philipp Herzig, SAP chief technology officer. “We can now take customers from raw, fragmented data to governed, AI-ready intelligence on a single open platform.”

The platform will use Apache Iceberg as a native foundation to unify data sources without requiring format conversion.

The agreement follows SAP investments in open-source projects and is expected to close in the third quarter of this year.

Gresham EDM Platform Integrates FundGuard Investment Accounting Tools

Gresham has integrated FundGuard’s multi-book investment accounting capabilities with its enterprise data management solutions.

This inclusion enables institutional investors and fund administrators to access a single source of data across public and private asset classes. Investment accounting systems provide the infrastructure for asset managers to track portfolios, calculate net asset values, and maintain regulatory compliance.

Nathan Wolaver, chief revenue officer of Gresham, said that the collaboration creates a unified data foundation that helps clients make decisions with control and confidence.

The joint offering uses artificial intelligence to automate data accuracy and connects front-office tasks to back-office workflows.

Gresham recently expanded its portfolio through the acquisition of the enterprise data management business of S&P Global.

BridgeWise Utilises X Data in New Wealth-Focused Sentiment Analysis Tool

Wealth management financial technology specialist BridgeWise has collaborated with X to integrate data from the social media platform into its intelligence engine to provide social sentiment analysis for thousands of securities.

The system utilises an API-driven connector and a proprietary framework to convert unstructured data into structured signals for financial institutions. The resultant SentimentWise is a solution intended to allow users to monitor shifts in investor mood and identify trends through the analysis of both fundamental and alternative data. The offering builds on BridgeWise’s acquisition of Context Analytics.

BridgeWise co-founder and chief executive Gaby Diamant said the arrangement turns global conversations into a quantifiable tool to assist investors with decision-making.

“Markets move on more than just numbers; they move on what people are saying, thinking, and feeling in the moment,” Diamant said. “By plugging X’s data stream into our engine alongside our deep fundamental and technical analysis, we’re helping our clients cut through the noise to see what actually matters.”

Sentiment analysis uses algorithms to evaluate public opinion and social media activity to gauge potential market movements.

Fitch Builds Fitch Nexus MCP Connector to Ratings Data

Fitch Solutions has launched a Model Context Protocol (MCP) connector, Fitch Nexus, that enables clients to access Fitch Ratings content through internal AI applications and large language models.

The connector provides credit research, historical ratings data and financial forecasts through a single integration.

“Fitch Nexus is designed to deliver faster, more actionable insights with greater efficiency and immediacy,” said Fitch Solutions chief commercial officer Christopher Sparke. “It reduces the distance between question and answer, enabling our clients to access the signals, commentary, and data they need to inform investment and risk management decisions.”

Future updates will include additional capabilities from CreditSights, BMI, and Sustainable Fitch to expand the available dataset. MCP is an open standard that enables AI assistants to connect with data sources and tools across different platforms.

NetApp Updates Google Cloud Capabilities

Data infrastructure specialist NetApp has released updates to its collaboration with Google Cloud, providing tools designed to assist customers in using enterprise data for artificial intelligence workloads.

These innovations include the general availability of NetApp Data Migrator and the Google Cloud NetApp Volumes Flex unified service level.

The updates allow for the management of file and block workloads within a single storage pool across all Google regions.

“With these updates, NetApp and Google have removed a major source of cost, delay and complexity in AI adoption,” said Pravjit Tiwana, senior vice president and general manager of cloud storage and services at NetApp.

ISS STOXX Brings Governance Scores into Corporate Rating Offering

ISS STOXX has integrated Governance QualityScore data into its Corporate Rating system, combining sustainability signals with governance analytics to assist investors in screening and portfolio allocation.

The system converts decile scores from the Governance QualityScore into a twelve-point scale ranging from A+ to D-.

Users can access the updated ratings through an analytics dashboard, application programming interfaces, or file transfer protocols.

“Our newly enhanced Corporate Rating combines trusted methodologies and transforms fragmented sustainability, governance and financial risk data into robust insights,” said Till Jung, head of the sustainability business for ISS STOXX. “The Corporate Rating supports investors across a wide range of use cases – from managing risks and meeting evolving regulatory requirements, to building high-performing, sustainable portfolios and delivering transparent reporting and stakeholder communications.”