Verisk Analytics has agreed to acquire Washington-based G2 Web Services for an amount of $112m.

The transaction is expected to be closed in the third quarter of this year, subject to customary closing conditions.

Verisk stated that it will integrate G2 with Argus, which will allow the latter to enhance its solutions in merchant and consumer fraud and reputational risk detection.

G2 Web Services is a merchant risk intelligence solutions provider for acquiring banks, payment companies and commercial banks. The solutions enable them to identify, mitigate, and monitor payments risk in their merchant and business customer portfolios. 

It offers G2 Merchant Map, which incorporates more than a decade of merchant-specific data collected by G2 Web Services. The map is claimed to be one of the extensive fraud and compliance databases in the industry.

Verisk Analytics group president Nana Banerjee said: "We're thrilled to have G2 join the Verisk family. Both G2 and Argus share the same focus on deploying sophisticated data-driven solutions and making business safer for our clients, including banks, payment platforms, networks, and acquirers.

“G2 is changing the way the financial sector identifies and mitigates risk and fraud, and we firmly believe that our many other client companies across the globe will benefit from being part of the G2 platform."

G2 Web Services CEO Allison Guidette said: "By joining with Argus, we will take our proprietary data assets, powerful technology, and deep domain expertise to the next level in helping clients fight fraud, transaction laundering, and reputational risk within the global payments and e-commerce ecosystem.

"Together we will expand our capabilities to map bad-actor networks, predict payments risk, and provide clients with the best opportunity to reduce losses and fines due to merchant and business fraud and compliance violations."

Verisk Analytics is a New Jersey, US-based data analytics services provider. The company serves industries such as insurance, natural resources and financial services.

In February, Verisk has entered into an agreement to acquire Bangalore-based data solutions company Fintellix that specialises in the development of data management platforms and regulatory reporting solutions for financial institutions.

Image: Verisk Analytics to acquire G2 Web Services. Photo: Courtesy of Derek Jensen (Tysto)/Wikipedia.