European Parliament Adopts CSRD

The European Union’s parliament has endorsed the creation of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the regulation that’s intended to oblige larger non-financial companies to disclose their ESG performance. The parliament overwhelmingly approved the formation of the framework, which is to be implemented by the end of next year.

CDP Adopts ISSB-Created Reporting Template

CDP will integrate into its disclosures platform a newly created template that’s likely to form the basis of a global reporting standard for climate-related performance. CDP will use the IFRS S2 Climate-related Disclosures that’s being drawn up by the International Sustainable Standards Board. The board was created at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland, last year to unify ESG reporting frameworks.

Financial Institutions Spend $1,500 to $3,000 to Complete One Client KYC Review

Financial institutions are spending millions of dollars every year inefficiently onboarding and maintaining clients, according to research from Fenergo, a provider of Know Your Customer (KYC) and Client Lifecycle Management (CLM) software solutions. A global study of over 1,000 C-level executives across corporate and institutional banks found that, on average, over half are spending between $1,500 and $3,000 to complete just one client KYC review.

The findings also show over half of financial institutions spending between 61 and 150 days on KYC reviews for clients, much of which is spent gathering and inputting data across multiple systems. Overall, more than 80% of respondents have between 1,000 and 2,500 employees working on KYC tasks. Some 90% said labour-intensive KYC impacts their ability to make better risk decisions. However, the data also shows financial institutions now focusing investment on automation with 62% prioritising spend for technology.

ESMA Makes ESG Data and Markets a Priority

Europe’s markets overseer has placed improving the quality and access to ESG data and financial markets among its priorities for the next five years. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said also in its 2023-2028 Strategy report that it was ready to put the European Union’s sustainability regulations in place and act as supervisor of them.

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.