Singapore’s MAS Launches Hub to Promote ESG Innovations

Singapore’s financial regulator has created a facility in which FinTechs, startups and financial institutions can co-locate and collaborate to develop sustainable finance products and services. The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Hub also will help startups scale and deploy new initiatives and source help and advice from established financial leaders.

Confluence Integrates ICE ESG Data into its SFDR Product

Regulatory compliance reporting and analytics provider Confluence has integrated the ESG data of Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) into its Sustainable Finance Disclosures Regulation (SFDR) service. The partnership gives Confluence clients access to ICE’s sustainability information on 1.4 million fixed-income securities issued by more than 16,000 corporate and sovereign entities.

UK Offers ESG Reporting Guidance to Financial Institutions

The UK’s accounting overseer has issued the first set of guidelines on gathering, using and reporting ESG data. The Financial Reporting Council’s initial report focuses on producing better data to improve decision making among financial institutions. Describing the ESG data landscape as “complex” and “with challenges”, the report offers solutions to overcoming these shortcomings.

VRF and SASB Amalgamated into IFRS Foundation

The unification of ESG reporting standards took a further step this week when the Value Reporting Foundation, one of the early innovators in setting ESG disclosure guidance and founder of the Integrated Reporting Framework (IRF) and SASB Standards, was amalgamated into the IFRS Foundation. Their functions will continue within the International Sustainability Standards Board, which was created at the Glasgow COP26 summit last year.

MiFID ESG Requirements go Live, Compliance Caution Urged

The ESG reporting requirement under the amended Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) came into effect this week, with warnings from some market participants that the new regulation would add more costs and challenges to compliance teams. Financial infrastructure and data provider SIX, however, said the obligations needn’t overwhelm firms.

“Regulatory complacency is unwise for firms at this time, as the introduction of additional ESG requirements could add ongoing MiFID compliance issues. However, much of the sustainability data and criteria needed to comply with the suitability requirements under the MiFID II update is the same as that housed already for the EU SFDR and the Green Taxonomy,” said Janine Hofer-Wittwer, Senior Product Manager of Financial Information at SIX. “For market participants, the goal is to work with data providers able to source and distil the data and provide it in a way that is easy to implement, minimising the lift needed for the latest and future ESG regulatory requirements.”

Many Firms Are Not Data-Ready for SFDR Level 2

Many financial institutions have yet to grasp the data implications of the European Union’s ESG reporting regulations, while others are scrambling to put in place processes to comply with the developing set of disclosure rules. Read the full story on ESG Insight here.

Many Firms Are Not Data-Ready for SFDR Level 2

Many financial institutions have yet to grasp the data implications of the European Union’s ESG reporting regulations, while others are scrambling to put in place processes to comply with the developing set of disclosure rules. Read the full story on ESG Insight here.

RiskBusiness Acquires Gold Operational Loss Database

RiskBusiness Services has acquired the Global Operational Loss Database (Gold) from partner UK Finance, the former British Bankers Association (BBA). RiskBusiness, a UK-based provider of SaaS-based compliance solutions, plans to offer the Gold database to allow firms to benchmark and measure their exposures to operational risk.

Mike Finlay, CEO and Chief Product Architect, RiskBusiness, says: “As the regulatory community have recognised that theoretical capital calculation models do not, in of themselves, reduce a firm’s exposure to operational risk, so have firms recognized that there are other uses for external loss data than just for capital modelling purposes. If a firm wishes to manage operational or non-financial risk within its risk appetite, then it needs to be able to benchmark and measure itself against its peers in the industry. Gold by RiskBusiness provides exactly the necessary, high quality, external dataset to facilitate proactive risk management, benchmarking and informed decision making.”

Euroclear to Use Taskize for CSDR Penalty Appeals

Euroclear is expanding its use of Taskize’s collaboration tools as the preferred channel for its 2,000+ members to appeal penalties at both the International Central Securities Depository (ICSD) and its domestic CSDs, under the upcoming CSDR Settlement Discipline Regime. Using a Taskize Bubble that has been specifically built around a penalty appeal template, Euroclear members will have a single digital channel to manage the penalties and appeals process.

Trade Surveillance Hindered by Fragmented Systems, VoxSmart Study Finds

Almost 70% of financial institutions believe that fragmentation of their approach due to siloed surveillance systems increases the risk of market abuse, according to a VoxSmart survey of almost 80 investment banks, brokers, and investment managers. The findings come as the potential for market abuse continues to accelerate globally as financial institutions continue to adjust to the new hybrid working world, according to the company.