KPMG Australia has acquired Markets IT, a Melbourne-based firm specialising in integrated trading, risk management, regulatory reform, trader surveillance, processing and post-trade software for both buy and sell-side organisations.Commercial terms of the deal were not disclosed, although the firms were understandably keen to point out how much it adds to KPMG's depth and scale in the burgeoning capital markets technology sector.This is the eleventh small tech firm acquisition by KPMG Australia in the past two years, set against a background of non-stop regulatory and technology change, greater competition and threats to its market share and that of its clients posed by new entrants.It's a market KPMG wants to keep a grip on: the firm's own research shows that total capital markets technology spending globally is forecast to exceed US$100 billion by 2018, with forecast spend allocated to risk management-related technology rising to over 18 per cent of this by 2018. "There has never been a greater need in the market for integrated, business-centric technology services for these clients. And effective implementation will require deep subject matter expertise in both business and technology," said Gary Wingrove, CEO of KPMG Australia.In 2013 Markets IT became Australia's first system integration partner for Murex, a global provider of cross-asset trading, risk management and processing technology. Wingrove said the acquisition of Markets IT was in part due to KPMG's need to support its "growing Murex-related services here in Australia as well as in Asia Pacific, Europe and South Africa", and its capital markets strategy in general.Founder of Markets IT, Tim Robinson, joins KPMG Australia as a partner. Co-founder Craig Snell and fellow director John Rusjan also join KPMG as directors together with their team of specialists in Melbourne and Sydney, the firms announced via a joint media release yesterday. Merging with KPMG's existing Capital Markets Technology team, this deal creates a combined team of around 40 experts nationally, supported by the group's existing regional and global capability.