ING will spin-out Katana, its advanced analytics platform that supports portfolio managers, investing £1.5 million alongside other investors as part of a £3 million funding round.

Katana is one of the 25 different innovation initiatives in ING Labs in Amsterdam, London and Singapore, following other projects such as Yolt and Cobase from startup to scale-up.

The firm uses computational power and a machine learning algorithm to scan the entire bond market systematically to detect anomalies, helping investors surface investment ideas and find opportunities faster.

Katana is supported by investment teams at PGGM, one of the largest pension fund managers in the Netherlands, and other asset managers which have been using the tool and providing ING with feedback and market validation since the design of the first prototype in January 2018.

Santiago Braje, former head of credit trading at ING and now chief executive of Katana, commented: “Supported by ING, we managed to develop, test and validate the technology – now it’s time to move to the next phase as an independent FinTech, we are very excited about the opportunities we see in developing our platform further and expanding our client base.”

Annerie Vreugdenhil, chief innovation officer at ING Wholesale Banking, added: “In the past few years, Katana managed to grow from an internal innovation project to a serious value proposition for bond investors.

“I’m proud that with our support Katana grew out to a fully-grown FinTech that is ready for an independent future.”

Katana Labs has incorporated in the UK and has its offices in London.

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