Dive Brief:

• Charlotte, North Carolina-based Truist plans to acquire “strategic assets” from data technology firm Zaloni in a bid to bolster the bank’s data management capabilities, the lender announced Monday.
• The bank said it will acquire the Zaloni Arena platform from the Raleigh-based company for an undisclosed amount. The move will accelerate Truist’s data governance, metadata management, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence and machine learning programs, the bank said.
• Twenty of Zaloni’s employees will join Truist’s enterprise data office as part of the deal. They will be led by Tracy Daniels, the bank’s chief data officer.

Dive Insight:

Zaloni founder and Chief Product Officer Ben Sharma and Chief Technology Officer Ashwin Nayak are part of the cohort of employees that will transition to the bank.

The team, which includes product, engineering and data professionals, will be based in Raleigh.

The acquisition advances Truist’s “T3” strategy, a companywide goal aimed at blending technology and touch to build trust with its customers, Daniels said. 

“The acquisition of the Zaloni Arena platform is an embodiment of how we express care in terms of data management as part of our T3 strategy,” Daniels said, adding the bank’s corporate development arm, Truist Ventures, was instrumental in identifying the opportunity. 

The investment strengthens the $545 billion-asset bank’s ability to act upon data for the benefit of the bank’s clients and employees, Daniels said.

“It’s how clients will experience a new level of care as we intersect technology and touch. In short, this acquisition of key strategic assets allows us to see more, know more, and do more,” she said. “By generating an accelerated timeline to insight and decision-making, this platform will help us create customized products and services that meet clients where they are during their time of need.”

The deal is the latest strategic acquisition for the bank, which was formed after BB&T’s acquisition of SunTrust in 2019.

Since the close of the $28 billion merger, Truist has made over a dozen acquisitions, including insurance-related offerings and the San Francisco-based gamified finance app Long Game.

Truist CEO Bill Rogers told analysts during the bank’s second-quarter earnings call last month that it plans to deploy capital into areas where it can achieve growth, such as nonbank M&A.