ARRIA NLG has secured its first contract in the financial services industry.

The company, which uses natural language generation technology developed at Aberdeen University, said it will pilot its technology with an unnamed bank as part of an initial three-month project.

Arria's systems allow for vast amounts of complex data to be quickly translated into easily readable text and infographics. The AIM-listed business said it will be working on a change management programme with the client.

That will include helping make key performance reporting information more visible and intelligible across the bank's operations around the world.

Arria suggested the successful completion of the contract could lead on to further work and licensing agreements. Stuart Rogers, chairman and chief executive of Arria, said: "Financial services represents an important growth area for our business.

"Fraud detection, risk mitigation and compliance are all places where the Arria NLG Engine has an important role to play.

"We welcome the opportunity to apply our scientific leadership and highly developed NLG Engine with a leading global bank.

"Following a successful pilot application our intention is to progress to revenue earning contracts with this bank." Arria's main customers are Shell and the Met Office but the company has always felt its technology could be used across a wide range of industries. Arria's product range is based on research done by Professor Ehud Reiter and then taken forward by the Data2Text Aberdeen University spin-out he co-founded.

Dr Reiter is now also chief scientist at Arria.

Arria listed on AIM in December last year.