Northern Trust Corp. has acquired an equity stake in Essentia Analytics, a behavioral analytics and consulting services firm, confirmed Marc Mallett, director of strategy for asset servicing Americas at Northern Trust, in an email.
Terms and other details of the deal, which closed Sept. 17, were not disclosed.
The investment in Essentia Analytics will provide Northern Trust's asset manager and asset owner clients access to Essentia's capabilities.
"Through our strategic relationship with Essentia Analytics, our clients can leverage a powerful combination of analytics and behavioral science to identify strengths and reveal hidden biases that impact investment performance," Mr. Mallett said in the email.
The addition of Essentia is part of Northern Trust Whole Office, which offers asset managers and asset owners back- and front-office services, such as custody and accounting to data and analytics, across the investment lifecycle.
Working with portfolio data from Northern Trust filtered through Essentia's process, investors can see their investment patterns and use that information to improve their decision-making processes.
"As asset managers and allocators seek to maximize alpha, it is crucial that they are able to identify behavioral biases and decision-making deficiencies and adjust their approach accordingly," said Clare Flynn Levy, founder and CEO of Essentia Analytics, in a news release. "We look forward to the opportunity to work with Northern Trust to bring enhanced productivity and investment performance to the front office of clients across the globe."
Northern Trust had $15.7 trillion in assets under custody/administration and $1.5 trillion in assets under management as of June 30.
