KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 10): Credit reporting agency CTOS Digital Bhd signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with business media group Nikkei Inc to promote the effective utilisation of corporate data and news, according to the group’s statement on Tuesday.

“Both parties will develop a news monitoring service on CTOS platforms via scoutAsia. CTOS and Nikkei will also explore the opportunity to power Nikkei products and platforms using CTOS’ global business and information,” CTOS said.

ScoutAsia is an Asia-focused news and company data platform, jointly-developed by Nikkei and the Financial Times. The platform combines content and technologies to provide real time Artificial Intelligence-driven insights related to businesses in Asia.

“Data and analytics are at the core of everything that we do at CTOS. Being able to expand the types of data that we can offer our clients, while simultaneously increasing the reach of our services across Asia with Nikkei is an important step forward for us in the region,” said CTOS group chief executive officer Eric Hamburger.

Meanwhile, Nikkei’s managing executive officer Toshio Machida said, “Nikkei has been investing actively in Asia, developing technologies and building partnerships with best-in-class global information providers. We are thrilled to collaborate with CTOS to explore new ways of providing customers with business insights.”

On Tuesday, the share price of CTOS closed unchanged at RM1.43, valuing the group at RM3.3 billion.