Tier1 Financial Solutions, a leading provider of client relationship management (“CRM”) solutions, has acquired Alessa, a compliance and financial crime prevention solution. The acquisition positions Tier1 to significantly grow its portfolio of solutions to meet its ambitious goal to digitally transform processes within organizations for greater client insights, revenue protection, regulatory compliance and AI-driven automation. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. 

Alessa is an industry-recognized software solution that is used by banks, credit unions, money services businesses (MSBs), casinos and fintechs for compliance to global anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. Alessa also has a significant global footprint with organizations in the retail, healthcare, insurance and other corporate sectors with its continuous controls monitoring and fraud prevention capabilities.  

Tier1’s acquisition of Alessa is a step towards the digitalization of the entire client relationship workflow. The acquisition will not only increase operational efficiency and reduce regulatory compliance risk but also lead to the “single source of truth” of client data across the full range of financial institutions, from global banks to small, local trading firms. In turn, bank customers will also enjoy a better on-boarding experience which can be frustrating if regulatory compliance is delayed with too many manual processes.   

“Regulatory requirements are no longer just a bank compliance department issue but an important part of front-office workflow and client lifecycle management,” said Jiro Okochi, CEO of Tier1 Financial Solutions. “We are very excited about joining forces with Alessa and together accelerating the digital transformation of our client’s transactional workflow.” 

“We are excited to be part of the Tier1 family as this allows us to be even more aggressive in our barrier-breaking mindset to deliver powerful solutions to the multi-billion-dollar compliance and fraud prevention market,” said Andrew Simpson, Chief Operating Officer of Alessa operations. “All our customers, partners and team members will benefit from this acquisition as it enables us to accelerate delivery on our bold promises.” 

Alessa will become part of the Tier1 branded product suite. Andrew Simpson will remain as Chief Operating Officer reporting to Jiro Okochi who assumed the CEO role of Tier1 Financial Solutions on January 1, 2021. Co-Founders Mark Notten and Phil Dias will continue as Board Member and become Board Advisor, respectively. 

Portico Capital served as exclusive financial advisor to Alessa with respect to this transaction. Tier1 Financial Solutions investor Wavecrest Growth Partners served as business advisors to Tier1 in its ongoing commitment to and investment in the company’s strategic growth plans.