Fourth Line acquires AI assets from defunct regtech

Fourth Line has purchased the core intellectual property (IP) of defunct competitor TIQK, including its artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) capabilities.

In a statement on Wednesday, the firm revealed that the acquired assets consist of a full-stack technology platform incorporating a suite of micro-application software specific to advice assurance, as well as custom NLP and AI code, AI integration tools, rules-based algorithms, and related IP.

Fourth Line’s executive chairman, David Travers, said the acquisition signifies the first milestone of the firm’s “advanced technology roadmap”, which aims to fully automate its advice service.

“This was a step-change opportunity that couldn’t be ignored,” Mr Travers said.

“It essentially means that a faster and better version of Fourth Line will be faster and cheaper to develop.”

According to Fourth Line’s chief executive officer, Joel Ronchi, the TIQK tech has delivered the building blocks for the firm’s “next-gen” product.

“Our first-generation product was sufficiently automated to attract around 12 per cent of Australian advisers to our hybrid ‘bionic’ advice service,” Mr Ronchi explained.

“This acquisition will expedite the development of a second-generation product offering a turn-key digital compliance function at a fraction of current compliance costs, and which is exponentially faster and more accurate than any human equivalent.”

Namely, the acquired technologies will be incorporated into the next evolution of Fourth Line’s “outsourced compliance brain” software, along with other advances in generative AI and machine learning technologies.

Mr Ronchi also clarified on LinkedIn that Fourth Line will not be replacing its processes and solutions with TIQK compliance models or adopting TIQK’s interpretations of legislation.

“The acquisition of TIQK is in line with Fourth Line’s vision of revolutionising advice assurance and empowering licensees and advisers to implement real-time, proactive, forward-looking monitoring and supervision that can be embedded into the advice creation process,” he said.

The firm confirmed on Wednesday that the integration will be overseen by Mr Travers, who will work in close collaboration with Dan Hunter, Fourth Line’s co-chief technology officer and generative AI specialist.

“In the short term, integration of the TIQK tech will allow Fourth Line to classify, review, and analyse advice more rapidly. It will also help identify exceptions, including technical and systemic advice risks, with more confidence”, Mr Travers explained.

“It’ll also help diversify the revenue model for our first-generation product, by laying the technical groundwork for a SaaS [software-as-a-service] service for high-volume clients.”