RegTech Insight Brief
Qotingo Further Expands With Addition of RepRisk Data
Risk analytics and indexing platform Qotingo has added ESG risk data from RepRisk to its client offering. RepRisk’s artificial intelligence-backed analyses and ESG data will be available to users of Qotingo’s Axioma Portfolio Analytics (APA) platform. It will also be used to build indexes within Qotingo’s STOXX brands. This is Qontingo’s latest addition to its APA after earlier this month announcing the inclusion of feeds from Sustainalytics, ISS and Clarity AI.
RightShip Launches Carbon Accounting Tools for Cargo Vessels
Shipping risk assessment company RightShip has launched a carbon accounting suite of tools to calculate cargo vessel’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Carbon Accounting Reporting Tool measures, monitors and benchmarks shipping-related emissions, which are thought to account for 3 per cent of total global GHG creation. The product comes as the European Union prepares to require financial institutions to report supply-chain emissions data as it continues to roll out its Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation.
ISSB Seeks Applicants to Fill 11 Seats
The search is on for members to sit on the IFRS Foundation’s recently created International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). The Foundation said it is looking for applicants to fill 11 seats on the ISSB, which is chaired by former Danone and Ryanair executive Emmanuel Faber. The board will eventually comprise 14 members including Faber and a vice chairman, who is to be selected soon. The creation of the ISSB – seen by many as major step towards creating a global set of standards for ESG reporting – was announced at the COP26 UN climate summit in November.
IBM Buys Environmental Performance Monitor Envizi
Envizi has been acquired by IBM, with the tech giant set to incorporate the environmental data and analytics provider’s software into its own suite of artificial intelligence-driven performance tools. Envizi’s solutions enable companies to measure their environmental impact based on 500 data points. New York-based IBM said the tech would build on its own tools for financial institutions – IBM Maximo asset management solutions, IBM Sterling supply chain solutions and IBM Environmental Intelligence Suite. It will also be incorporated into IBM’s Turbonomic and Red Hat OpenShift capabilities, which automate decision-making based on operational factors including greenhouse gas emissions.
Qotingo to Incorporate Sustainalytics, ISS, Clarity AI Data
Sustainability data provided by Sustainalytics, ISS and Clarity AI will now be available to clients of risk analytics and indexing platform Qotingo. The three vendors’ feeds will be incorporated in Qotingo’s cloud-hosted Axioma Portfolio Optomizer (APO). Sustainalytics’ data will also be included in the company’s Axioma Portfolio Analytics (APA) for performance attribution and reporting, and Axioma Risk Model Machine (RMM), which enables users to customise risk models. Qotingo said the new feeds would give its financial clients the ability to model portfolios, calculate their own ESG risk exposures and generate performance measurements.
PKO Bank Polski Selects SS&C FRTB Solution
PKO Bank Polski has implemented SS&C’s Fundamental Review of the Trading Book (FRTB) standardised approach solution. As part of an update of its risk management framework, the bank will use SS&C’s FRTB solution to calculate risk sensitivities and provide FRTB-specific calculations and workflows, extensive model coverage, high performance, scalability and extensibility through APIs. The bank also uses SS&C’s Algorithmics Workspace Analyzer with the FRTB solution to provide aggregation, sandboxing and what-if capabilities, and SS&C Algorithmics market risk and counterparty credit risk solutions.
EY Survey Shows Growing Demand for Consistent ESG Reporting Standards
A survey by professional services giant EY Assurance has found that three quarters of financial leaders want to see more consistent ESG reporting standards and that they must be mandatory. A similar proportion of the 1,000 executives interviewed said that ESG was a “significant part of their role” – up from two-thirds in the poll last year. Nevertheless around a third of respondents said that there was a lack of real-time data and information with long-term value. And almost a quarter said there was a “disconnect” between reporting ESG and mainstream financial information. “There is no doubt that the drive towards improved sustainability reporting is gaining momentum… but there is a steep mountain to climb,” said Marie-Laure Delarue, EY Global Vice Chair.
Supply Chain ESG Solution Launched by Sustainalytics
Sustainalytics has created Corporate Supply Chain ESG Solutions, a service that will enable clients to gauge the sustainability of companies in their supply chains. The Morningstar unit said the offering would help many industries assess, report and mitigate their ESG risks. The product is delivered through Sustainlytics’ ESG Assessment Platform and draws on the Amsterdam-based company’s huge data pools and its ESG Risk Ratings product.
APAA ESG Risk Guide Stops Short of Mandatory Disclosures
The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority has become the latest overseer to issue a guidance on banks’ management of climate risks in their portfolios. While its latest guidance offers advice on how institutions should approach the issue, it does not advocate mandatory ESG disclosures. Instead, the regulator said lenders should consider whether other “voluntary disclosures could be beneficial in enhancing transparency and giving confidence to the wider market”.
Banks, Institutions Back ESG Book’s Free Data Project
An alliance of global banks, institutions and investors has launched ESG Book, a free source of information that its creators say will make sustainability data a public good. Companies will be able to freely access the data lake to help them report on their own ESG records and financial institutions will be able to use it to gauge the sustainability of their portfolios. ESG Book will be hosted on a platform built by Frankfurt-based data vendor Arabesque. We’ll be following up with more details on this one soon!