Nasdaq has agreed a $2.75bn deal to acquire Canadian anti money laundering and fraud platform provider Verafin.

The mammoth deal will “accelerate Nasdaq’s ongoing evolution into a leading SaaS technology provider” and create a “global leader” in the fight against financial crime, according to a statement from the companies.

Verafin offers a cloud-based platform to detect, investigate and report money laundering and fraud. Its products are used by 2,000 financial institutions in North America.

Nasdaq, the world’s second largest stock exchange, believes the move will strengthen its existing regtech and anti-financial crime solutions, including its Nasdaq Trade and Market Surveillance products, Buy-Side Compliance and the Nasdaq Automated Investor for AML.

Verafin’s capabilities will be available to Nasdaq’s global network of nearly 250 financial instutitions and regulatory authorities that already use Nasdaq’s technology to detect market manipulation and abuse.

The two companies said they believe Nasdaq’s deep relationships with leading banks “will accelerate Verafin’s strategy of displacing legacy providers and manual processes with its cloud-based, state-of-the-art, market-proven solution”

Jamie King, Chief Executive of Verafin said: “Together with Nasdaq, we will be a clear leader in expanding the fight against illicit finance by delivering our capabilities to a global client base from our headquarters in St. John’s.”