Anthropic has another late-night surprise!

Claude integrates directly into Excel as an add-in, allowing you to not only manipulate and read data directly but also locate cell contents and provide justification for modifications.

Claude has partnered with Microsoft to enter Wall Street and establish a foothold in the financial services sector!

Anthropic announced that they are using Claude for Excel to connect to market data, portfolio data, and other financial data in real time.

Claude is analyzing a spreadsheet containing Acme Grille, Inc.'s consolidated income statements for 2020-2024, providing real-time guidance on financial modeling.

Simply put, it's an Excel add-in currently in beta as a research preview. (It's only available for Max, Teams, or Enterprise editions, and the initial trial is limited to 1,000 users.)

Previously, Excel data was imported from Claude, but now it can be used directly in the Excel sidebar. This format allows Wall Street Excel experts to directly analyze data using AI, automatically jump to the appropriate cell, and track and explain the reasons for the changes.

Claude can discuss how a spreadsheet works, make modifications while preserving its structure and formula dependencies, debug and correct cell formulas, populate templates with new data and assumptions, or build a new spreadsheet from scratch.

Claude for Excel expands on existing integrations with Microsoft applications.

Within the Claude app, Claude can also create and edit files, including Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, and connect to Microsoft 365 to search files, emails, and Teams conversations.

Connectors and Skills for Financial Tasks

The ability to integrate with Excel is primarily due to Claude's Connectors.

Similar to MCP, Claude is specifically tailored for different businesses.

Another example is Claude's Agent Skills. To better serve the financial sector, Claude has added six new skills:

• Comparable Company Analysis, including valuation multiples and operating metrics, which can be easily refreshed with updated data;
• Discounted Cash Flow Modeling, including complete free cash flow forecasts, weighted average cost of capital (WACC) calculations, scenario switching, and sensitivity tables;
• Due Diligence Package, which processes data room files into Excel spreadsheets containing financial information, client lists, and contract terms;
• Company Presentation and Profile, which provides a concise company overview for investment banking brochures and potential buyer lists;
• Earnings Analysis, which examines quarterly earnings call transcripts and financial statements to extract key metrics, guidance changes, and management commentary;
• Launch Coverage Report, which includes industry analysis, in-depth company research, and valuation frameworks.

As a leading B2B AI company, Claude strives to be known as an AI company for enterprises.

Claude's Impact in the Financial Services Sector

Claude is widely used by leading banks, asset management companies, insurance companies, and fintech companies.

It supports front-office tasks like customer experience, middle-office work in underwriting, risk, and compliance, and back-office tasks like code modernization and legacy processes.

With the continued updates to models and products for financial services, Claude is expected to become even more effective in these roles.

For example, Citibank's CTO has praised Claude, citing his advanced planning and coding skills.

VISA, a familiar figure, also calls Claude a key partner.

Admittedly, the previous approach of integrating Excel with AI was somewhat "playful" and inadequate for the financial industry's demand for absolute accuracy.

But this time, Claude has created a plug-in that can be directly integrated into Excel. It's likely that AI will replace the various spreadsheet and formula skills honed by the industry's "cousins" in the future.

The financial industry will soon have Vibe Coding, like Vibe Exceling in the programming world!

However, whether AI can truly perform financial accounting with absolute certainty and without error remains uncertain.