Investors See Relevance in Double Materiality Ratings: ISS ESG Survey

Institutional investors believe that ESG ratings built on a double materiality methodology are “very relevant” to them, according to an ISS ESG survey of client needs.

The analysis also found that investors consider the reporting standards of International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB), UN Global Compact (UNGC) and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) most relevant to their needs.

The findings were contained in the company’s ESG Corporate Rating Survey, in which it sought to gauge client responses to the methodologies it uses to create its sustainability research.

The survey results, which will be discussed in a webinar next month, also show that investors’ most relevant ESG theme is addressing climate change.

SIX Adds to ESG Products With SME Assessment Tool

Swiss financial giant SIX has launched a tool that will enable banking clients to make assessments on the sustainability performance of small- and medium-sized enterprises on their loan books.

The service is backed by Greenomy, an ESG assessment and reporting company that the Swiss company acquired late last year. With Greenomy’s software-as-a-service platform, the solution will help banks comply with regulations such as the EU’s new Banking Book Taxonomy Alignment Ratio (EU BTAR).

Further, banking clients will be able to gauge their debtors’ sustainability risk trajectories.

“The importance of gaining a clearer insight into the climate credentials of small and medium-sized enterprises cannot be overstated,” said SIX head of financial information Marion Leslie. “After all, SMEs represent 90 per cent of businesses worldwide, not to mention 99 per cent of the EU’s economy.”

The SME Sustainability Assessment Solution is the latest tool to be released by SIX this year. The Zurich-based operator of the stock exchanges of Switzerland and Spain unveiled a climate-specific data tool last month. That was the first in a programme of product releases that SIX head of ESG product strategy Martina McPherson said would create a one-stop-shop of sustainability data services.

Mirae Asset Global Investments and Bloomberg Plan Strategic Collaboration

Mirae Asset Global Investments and Bloomberg are planning a global strategic data and technology collaboration to support Mirae Asset, an asset manager headquartered in South Korea and operating in 16 markets, in its global business expansion and digital transformation. Bloomberg will offer solutions tailored to Mirae Asset in support of the asset manager’s mission to provide exceptional investment offerings for global investors. Both parties will also actively explore additional areas for collaboration, particularly in the realms of digital transformation, data solutions and innovation. This is Bloomberg’s first MOU in South Korea.

Bloomberg Adds to Mobile Apps with Bloomberg Pro for Vision

Bloomberg has released Bloomberg Pro for Vision, an application based on Apple Vision Pro that gives Bloomberg Anywhere subscribers access to functionality including News, Bloomberg Television, Instant Bloomberg, Bloomberg Message, Markets, Worksheets, Securities Data, and Research on the move or in the office.

“This is a new way to help financial professionals take full advantage of Apple Vision Pro and maintain productivity, expand desktop real estate and access private information in the office or on the go, all while reducing monitor footprints,” says Len Welter, head of mobile infrastructure and technology in Bloomberg’s Office of the CTO. “We will continue to invest in our mobile apps like Bloomberg Pro for Vision to deliver the news, data and analytics our clients need, wherever they may be working.

”Bloomberg Pro for Vision is available immediately in the App Store on Apple Vision Pro and is accessible to Bloomberg Terminal customers with a Bloomberg Anywhere subscription.

EU Approves Proposal to Regulate ESG Ratings Providers

European Union leaders have agreed on a proposal to regulate ESG ratings providers, requiring them to be registered and monitored by financial authorities.
Under the planned framework jointly backed by the EU’s executive, the European Council, and its parliament, ESG ratings providers must abide by transparency rules that will oblige them to publish the data and methodologies behind their calculations.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) will keep check of the companies.

The regulation is hoped to bring harmony to the fragmented ESG ratings sector, which has been frequently blamed for paving the way for greenwashing. The EU also expects that eventually there will be providers of separate E, S and G ratings.

When the proposal is passed, the EU is be the first major financial authority to bring ESG ratings firms within the orbit of regulators, a move that is also being considered in the UK and US.

Digital Onboarding Sets Plans Following $58 million Volition Capital Investment

Boston-based Digital Onboarding, a SaaS solution provider helping more than 100 financial institutions deepen their customer relationships, has closed a $58 million investment from growth equity firm Volition Capital. Digital Onboarding provides a digital engagement platform built to grow and service existing customer relationships and designed to enable financial institutions to engage with customers via targeted, journey-based communication and action-oriented microsites.

The investment will support Digital Onboarding’s goals to accelerate its product roadmap, improve support for existing customers, drive awareness among target prospects, and expand its headcount.

Centralis Group Selects Fenergo Client Lifecycle Management

Fenergo, a provider of digital Client Lifecycle Management (CLM), Know your Customer (KYC) and transaction monitoring solutions for financial institutions, has been selected by Centralis Group, which will use Fenergo CLM to streamline client and investor onboarding processes and strengthen its foundation for sustainable international growth.

Luxembourg-based Centralis is an alternative asset and corporate services provider. Fenergo’s technology will enable the firm to increase operational efficiency, optimise the onboarding journey for both clients and investors, and reduce the potential for duplication of effort. By streamlining and accelerating onboarding, Centralis expects to foster stronger client relationships from the beginning while remaining compliant with diverse regulations across its global network.

Mosaic Smart Data Research Reveals Front Office Data Challenges

Mosaic Smart Data, a provider of real-time capital markets data analytics, has revealed the challenges front offices in investment banks face when attempting to get their data in a fit state to deploy AI-powered analytics for improved efficiency, productivity and profitability.

Mosaic research found data quality and integrity is a critical challenge with 66% of banks struggling with data quality and gaps in important data points; 83% with no real-time access to transaction data and/or data analytics; and 66% saying the data that is most useful for analytics is challenging to access. Reference data is unfit for purpose, with 50% of banks having reference data with no unified counterparty identifier, especially for client static data, and sometimes the data is missing altogether.

Matthew Hodgson, CEO and founder of Mosaic, comments: “No powerful analytics or AI can fully function if data is not normalised, maintained in an orderly fashion and gaps in the data enriched. Now is a crucial time to invest in data and analytics for the front office – but ROI must be guaranteed in the current economic climate, and this begins with better data health.”

The research covered six million Fixed Income Clearing Corporation (FICC) transactions from global and regional investment banks in South America, US, Canada, UK, EU, South Africa, Japan and Australia, and surveyed front office staff including traders, salespeople and quants.

Cognizant Collaborates with Microsoft on genAI Powered Innovation Assistant

Cognizant, a provider of IT, consulting and business process services, has collaborated with Microsoft to launch Innovation Assistant, a generative AI-powered tool built on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and designed to augment Cognizant’s internal innovation programme. The Innovation Assistant assimilates enterprise knowledge and enables greater creativity and innovation among teams of Cognizant employees working to solve client challenges.

UK ESG Ratings Code of Conduct to be Explained in London

LSEG, the owner of the London Stock Exchange, will host an event to discuss how the UK’s code of conduct covering ESG ratings and data companies will work in practice.

Companies are being invited to sign up to the code of conduct after it was launched in December following its proposal in the summer. The January 31 event in London is aimed at explaining to signatories and other stakeholders how they will be affected by the measure.

The code envisages a six-principles approach to bringing order to ESG ratings whose providers face criticism over inconsistencies in their scores and conflicts of interest.

It was commissioned by the UK regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which created the ESG Data and Ratings Code of Conduct Working Group (DRWG) to draw up the proposals. The working group was supported by the International Regulatory Strategy Group (IRSG) and the International Capital Market Association (ICMA).