The Japanese bank will help customers understand key social and economic activities using Orbital Insight's combination of satellite imagery, location data and artificial intelligence Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) announced today that it is partnering with Orbital Insight, the geospatial analytics company, to offer customers access to new data sources for better business decisions. SMBC will use Orbital Insight's GO platform to launch an analytics service that visualizes social and economic activities in near real-time by combining satellite imagery, anonymized location data and artificial intelligence. The service will initially focus on understanding macro trends like how people are shifting daily activities amidst current remote work requirements. SMBC has already piloted Orbital Insight's data for its proof of concept projects and confirmed its effectiveness. "When it comes to business risk, geospatial analytics and AI can make the invisible visible," said Katsunori Tanizaki, Senior Managing Executive Officer at SMBC. "The uncertainty of the pandemic makes that an even more important need for our customers, who are often managing global assets. Working with Orbital Insight on this new service combines SMBC's business insights as a financial institution with Silicon Valley's cutting-edge technology to help customers navigate the right decisions. Access to daily trends on thousands of global locations will be extremely valuable, especially across the construction, finance, retail and maritime sectors."