Anthropic is deepening its presence in finance, bringing Claude’s AI directly into Excel and connecting it to live market data for faster, smarter analysis.

The company is expanding Claude for Financial Services with a powerful Excel add-in, additional connectors for real-time market data and portfolio analytics, and new pre-built Agent Skills that can build discounted cash flow models or initiate coverage reports.

These updates build on Sonnet 4.5’s state-of-the-art performance in financial tasks — topping the Finance Agent benchmark from Vals AI with 55.3% accuracy. Together, they extend Claude’s intelligence into core financial workflows, offering AI-powered assistance for time-consuming but critical work within the industry’s preferred tools.

Anthropic has launched Claude for Excel in beta, marking a major step toward embedding generative AI directly into financial workflows.

The new Excel sidebar integration allows Claude to read, analyze, modify, and create workbooks while maintaining full transparency about every change it makes. Users can review explanations, track cell references, and instantly see how formulas are adjusted.

Claude can:

This capability extends Anthropic’s existing Microsoft 365 integrations, including support for PowerPoint, Teams, and file searches through Microsoft Copilot Studio. In the Claude apps, users can also create and edit files, including Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint slides, and connect to Microsoft 365 to search for files, emails, and Teams conversations.

Select Claude models are also available in Microsoft Copilot Studio and Researcher agent, strengthening its interoperability within enterprise ecosystems.

The feature is now in research preview for Max, Enterprise, and Teams users, with rollout expanding after testing with 1,000 initial users. You can join the waitlist here.

Connectors provide Claude with direct access to external tools and data platforms, allowing it to analyze information in real time.

In July, Anthropic added connectors for S&P Capital IQ, Daloopa, Morningstar, and PitchBook — giving Claude access to trusted financial databases, equity research, and valuation data used across the investment industry.

Building on that foundation, Anthropic is now introducing a new set of connectors that deepen Claude’s capabilities in market analysis, portfolio monitoring, and due diligence, solidifying its role as a digital research assistant for analysts and portfolio managers:

Together, these new connectors turn Claude into a real-time financial intelligence assistant, capable of bridging quantitative data and qualitative insights from across the financial ecosystem — all while maintaining transparency and data security.

For more information on configuring MCP connectors and prompting best practices to get the most from each integration, Anthropic provides detailed setup documentation and examples.

Anthropic is expanding Claude’s financial intelligence with six new pre-built Agent Skills, designed to streamline time-consuming and complex workflows across corporate finance, investment banking, and asset management. Each skill combines structured instructions, scripts, and resources designed to accelerate workflows across Claude.ai, Claude Code, and the Claude API.

The new skills include:

As with Claude for Excel, these Agent Skills are available in preview for Max, Enterprise, and Teams users. Organizations can register to join the preview and begin testing how Claude performs in production-like financial environments.

Claude is already being adopted across the financial sector by leading banks, asset managers, insurance companies, and fintech firms. It supports a full range of functions — from front-office analytics and client engagement to middle-office underwriting, risk management, and back-office modernization.

By automating repetitive analysis and integrating with existing enterprise tools, Claude helps teams improve speed, accuracy, and collaboration while maintaining oversight and compliance. Anthropic’s continued updates for financial services are aimed at deepening this integration and positioning Claude as a trusted, domain-specific AI assistant across regulated industries.

“Citi chose to leverage Claude as part of its AI-powered Developer Platform because of its advanced planning and agentic coding capabilities, focus on safety and reliability, and compatibility with our workloads,” said David Griffiths, CTO at Citi.

“Anthropic's multi-cloud solution stands out for its scale, performance, and security, aligning with our operational needs and customer expectations. It exceeded our performance benchmarks and met all of our security requirements, making it the ideal solution,” said Varsha Mahadevan, Senior Engineering Manager at Coinbase. “We think Claude will help Coinbase build solutions for different customer segments and bring a billion customers to the crypto economy.”

Below, Alexander Bricken, Applied AI Lead for Financial Services, and Nicholas Lin, Head of Product for Financial Services, discuss Anthropic’s research and product strategy within financial services — including real-world customer use cases and insights from the launch of Claude for Financial Services.

To learn more about Claude for Financial Services, readers can visit Anthropic’s official documentation or contact their sales team for deployment details.

To see the new features in action — and hear directly from financial services leaders using Claude in production — Anthropic is also hosting a launch webinar, which you can register for here.

Q1: How does Claude for Excel differ from traditional Excel add-ins?
A: Claude for Excel doesn’t just automate formulas — it interprets, debugs, and explains them. It acts as a co-pilot for analysis, improving accuracy and understanding.

Q2: Why do the new connectors matter for finance professionals?
A: They give Claude real-time market awareness, allowing analysts to make informed decisions faster while maintaining data governance and compliance.

Q3: How do Agent Skills change financial modeling?
A: They allow Claude to execute complex financial tasks — from valuation to due diligence — without constant prompting, saving hours per model.

Q4: How are organizations applying Claude today?
A: Firms like Citi and Coinbase are using Claude to enhance developer productivity, data analysis, and client-facing tools, integrating AI into every layer of their operations.

The expansion of Claude for Financial Services shows how AI is becoming a seamless part of financial work — not a separate system, but an integrated partner.

Analysts, underwriters, and risk managers are beginning to work with AI rather than around it — offloading data-heavy processes while maintaining oversight and compliance.

This evolution doesn’t replace human judgment; it elevates it. As AI takes on the science of finance, the art of interpretation and strategy grows even more valuable.

And as finance evolves, the real advantage will come from those who combine human insight with AI precision most effectively.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant used for research and drafting. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.