Anthropic recently announced that it is launching a powerful new set of features tailored for financial analysts for its AI assistant Claude, aiming to significantly improve the efficiency and accuracy of financial workflows. The key highlights of this update include Claude for Excel plugin, extended data connections, and a set of professional AI agent skills.

Claude

Core Features: Empowering Excel and Real-Time Data

The Claude for Excel plugin, powered by the Sonnet4.5 model, is now available in beta for select enterprise customers. This plugin allows analysts to analyze, edit, and annotate spreadsheets directly within Excel, seamlessly integrating AI capabilities into daily work.

Furthermore, this version includes real-time data connections with several top providers, including Moody's, London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), and Aiera. This enables users to access up-to-date financial reports, credit data, and market prices directly, ensuring analysis is based on the latest market dynamics.

Six Professional AI Agent Skills

Anthropic also introduced a set of six new agent features designed to support complex due diligence and company analysis tasks, further automating standard analytical work. These AI skills can be used for core financial tasks such as cash flow modeling and valuation comparisons.

Challenges and Competitive Landscape

With these new features, Anthropic is now directly competing with tools like Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT in the enterprise AI market.