Anthropic brings AI assistant Claude as an Excel add-in

Anthropic is expanding its offering for financial service providers with an Excel add-in. Claude for Excel is currently in a beta phase, called Research Preview, and allows users to work directly in Excel with the AI assistant. The integration is done via a sidebar where Claude can read, analyze, modify, and completely recreate workbooks.

As a special feature of the system, Anthropic emphasizes the complete transparency of the actions taken. Claude documents all changes, explains its approach, and users can navigate directly to the referenced cells. Furthermore, according to Anthropic, the assistant can explain the functionality of spreadsheets, modify them while maintaining structure and formula dependencies, debug and repair cell formulas, fill templates with new data, or create completely new workbooks from scratch.

The new Excel integration is based on the model Sonnet 4.5, which achieved an accuracy of 55.3 percent in the Finance Agent Benchmark by Vals AI, thus holding the top position. Anthropic is initially collecting feedback from 1000 selected users before the feature is made available to more users. Subscribers to the Max, Enterprise, and Teams plans can gain access to the beta via a waiting list.

Claude for Excel complements Anthropic's existing integrations into Microsoft applications. In the Claude apps, users can already create and edit Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations. There is also a connection to M365 for searching files, emails, and MS Teams conversations. Selected Claude models are also available in Microsoft Copilot Studio and the Researcher Agent.

New Connectors for Real-Time Market Data

In parallel with the Excel add-in, Anthropic is expanding the available connectors for Claude. These enable direct access to external tools and platforms. New integrations include Aiera, which provides real-time transcripts of earnings calls and summaries of investor events. Aiera also connects to Third Bridge, a library of expert interviews and company analyzes from former executives.

LSEG provides live market data, including bond prices, stock quotes, exchange rates, and macroeconomic indicators. Moody's offers access to proprietary credit ratings, research reports, and company data from over 600 million public and private firms. Chronograph provides private equity investors with operational and financial information for portfolio monitoring and due diligence.

Egnyte enables secure searching of internal data rooms, investment documents, and financial models while maintaining access controls. MT Newswires supplies Claude with current global financial news across multiple asset classes. The connectors are based on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), for which Anthropic provides extensive documentation for setup.

Specialized Agent Skills for Financial Analysis

Anthropic has also developed six new agent skills specifically for financial tasks. These are folders containing instructions, scripts, and resources that Claude uses to perform specific tasks. The new capabilities include Comparable Company Analysis with valuation metrics and operating metrics that can be easily updated with current data.

For discounted cash flow models, Claude creates complete free cash flow projections, including WACC calculations, scenario switches and sensitivity tables. The Due Diligence Data Packs process data room documents into Excel spreadsheets with financial information, customer lists, and contract terms. Further skills include company teasers for pitch books, earnings analyzes for evaluating quarterly reports, and initiating coverage reports with industry analyses and valuation frameworks.

The new skills are also being rolled out gradually for Max, Enterprise, and Teams users. They work across all Claude applications, including Claude.ai, Claude Code, and the API. According to Anthropic, several major financial institutions are already using Claude productively, including Bridgewater Associates, S&P Global, and Deutsche Bank. More information can be found in Anthropic's announcement.

(fo)