ThetaRay appoints Brad Levy as CEO to drive AI growth

ThetaRay has appointed Brad Levy as Chief Executive Officer, with the outgoing CEO, Peter Reynolds, moving into an advisory role.

Levy previously served as Chief Executive Officer of Symphony and has held senior roles at IHS Markit and Goldman Sachs. ThetaRay stated that Levy will lead the company's next phase of growth as it expands its artificial intelligence software for financial crime compliance.

The company sells software used for transaction monitoring and transaction due diligence at banks and fintechs. ThetaRay describes its approach as Cognitive AI. It positions the product as an alternative to rule-based compliance systems.

Executive background

Levy led Symphony, a financial markets technology platform backed by a consortium of banks. ThetaRay said Symphony served hundreds of thousands of users in financial services. Prior to that, Levy worked at IHS Markit, including as Chief Executive Officer of MarkitSERV. ThetaRay said he also led IHS Markit's global loan settlement and software services business.

Earlier, Levy spent 18 years at Goldman Sachs. He became Managing Director and Global Head of the firm's Principal Strategic Investments Group, according to ThetaRay.

The company said Levy has received industry recognition, including CEO of the Year at the 2022 Markets Choice Awards.

Product focus

ThetaRay sells software-as-a-service products for financial crime compliance. It said its technology identifies legitimate customers and flags suspected criminal activity. The company said it shortens implementation times compared with traditional approaches. It also said the products generate insights into potential criminal networks.

ThetaRay said its software has been implemented at financial institutions including Santander, Clear Bank, Mashreq Bank, Payoneer, Onafriq, and Travelex.

Leadership change

Reynolds will step down due to family reasons, ThetaRay said. He will transition to an advisory position and remain involved during a defined transition period.

The company said Reynolds joined as Chief Executive Officer in June 2023. ThetaRay said it expanded its customer base during his tenure and strengthened its product suite.

"ThetaRay has built the leading AI platform for financial crime compliance, with proven impact across the world's most complex financial environments," said Brad Levy, incoming CEO of ThetaRay. "The industry is reaching a tipping point, where AI is no longer optional but foundational. My focus is on scaling this platform globally, deepening our partnerships with financial institutions, and embedding compliance as a strategic capability that drives sustainable growth. I'm tremendously excited to lead the company forward alongside a team that combines deep domain expertise with real-world execution."

Investors

ThetaRay said it is backed by investors including JVP and Portage, alongside other strategic investors. It described Portage as a fintech-focused investment platform with over USD $2.5 billion in assets under management.

JVP is chaired by ThetaRay Chairman Erel Margalit. ThetaRay described JVP as a venture capital firm founded in 1993.

Margalit said the appointment reflects a shift in priorities as ThetaRay expands internationally and targets larger deployments across financial services.

One brief context sentence before his comments: Margalit also referred to a broader adoption of vertical AI in transaction monitoring and customer due diligence.

"ThetaRay is the clear category leader in Cognitive AI for financial crime compliance, and we have reached a moment where scale, execution, and global impact matter more than ever," said Erel Margalit, Chairman of ThetaRay and Founder and Chair of JVP. "Brad is a proven leader in building and operating core financial infrastructure at global scale, and he is the right CEO to lead ThetaRay into its next phase as a defining platform for the industry. As Vertical AI becomes a critical driver in transaction monitoring and customer due diligence across the banking and financial sectors, ThetaRay is strengthening its position as a technological leader in this space. Over the coming years, we look forward to translating this leadership into a strong international business footprint. Beyond stopping increasingly sophisticated financial crime, ThetaRay enables legitimate global trade corridors by allowing banks and financial institutions to execute international transactions more efficiently and securely. I also want to thank Peter Reynolds for his leadership and impact. Peter helped in scaling the business to tens of millions of dollars in revenue, and we look ahead to the next phase of growth as we expand to hundreds of millions of dollars across international markets, with Vertical and Cognitive AI emerging as the category of choice for securing monetary transactions."

ThetaRay said Levy will lead the next phase of growth as the firm scales its transaction monitoring and transaction due diligence platform across banks and fintechs worldwide.