With risk management top of mind for chief financial officers, IBM announced Wednesday it agreed to acquire OpenPages, a private company that develops risk-management and compliance software. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

A recent IBM study of 1,900 global CFOs and senior finance leaders revealed that risk management has risen in priority by 93 percent since 2005. The survey also noted that two out of three companies had encountered material risk events within the past three years.

IBM officials said the Armonk, N.Y. company’s latest acquisition bolsters its business-analytics portfolio in a strategic area. Growing volumes of data, disconnected systems, and ever-changing regulatory compliance challenges demand a comprehensive view of risk exposure – and getting that view demands business analytics.

IBM has been aggressively building out its information-management portfolio over the last few years alongside Oracle, leading the enterprise pack in this area.

“Unforeseen risk can hurt a company's bottom line as well as its brand reputation,” said Rob Ashe, general manager of business analytics at IBM. “Integrating risk-management systems across once-divided units and functions is essential to seeing the bigger picture.”

According to IBM officials, the acquisition is subject to applicable regulatory clearances and other customary closing conditions. Following the close of the acquisition, IBM intends to integrate OpenPages within IBM’s Business Analytics software portfolio.