Accenture Beefs Up Financial Services Muscle With TargetST8 Buy

Accenture has acquired a financial services firm that specializes in using artificial intelligence and robotic process automation in corporate and commercial lending, the company said Wednesday.

TargetST8 Consulting, which was founded in 2013, focuses exclusively on the financial markets, serving banks and investment firms in the U.S. and Europe, Accenture said. TargetST8 provides customers with digital lending solutions that include deploying artificial intelligence and robotic process automation, according to Accenture.

“TargetST8 consultants are known for their deep expertise, innovative digital solutions and outstanding project delivery—particularly in their implementation of Finastra’s Loan IQ solution,” said Alan McIntyre, who leads Accenture's banking practice globally. “The addition of TargetST8 will enhance our ability to help our commercial and corporate lending clients improve their processes and transform their businesses.”

The Chicago-based solution provider said TargetST8 will be used to enhance its commercial and corporate lending capabilities and bolster its credit consulting practice.

“Accenture’s scale, scope and reputation for excellence will benefit our clients and enable our employees to further develop their expertise,” Steve Shyn, managing partner at TargetST8, said in a statement. “Our clients and employees will benefit from accelerated opportunities from the acquisition. We are excited to become part of one of the world’s leading companies.”

This is the latest of at least 10 acquisitions this year for Accenture, No. 2 on the CRN 2018 Solution Provider 500.

In August, Accenture acquired Mindtribe, a San Francisco-based hardware engineering company that counts among its customer base such industry giants as Apple, Google, Tesla, Lyft, Adobe, Ferrari and NASA. The company also agreed to acquire Pillar Technology, a Columbus, Ohio-based software development company with a focus on rapid and agile development of embedded software developed for smart and connected systems such as autonomous vehicles.

In July, Accenture bought Kogentix, a 275-employee company based in Schaumburg, Ill., that provides AI tools to enterprises.

In June, it acquired Designaffairs, a German strategic design consultant, which followed the April buy of Certus Solutions in a deal to boost its Oracle Cloud capabilities.