Moody’s Analytics Wins Contract to Fight Financial Crime in European Union

Moody’s Analytics has won a framework contract worth up to €34 million from the European Commission to strengthen its anti-fraud, money laundering and financial crime effort. The four-year contract will be managed by the Commission’s European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and will use the Orbis database operated by Bueau van Dijk, a Moody’s Analytics subsidiary, to access company data, information on connected individuals, and risk indicators.

Organisations working with the Orbis data will include the European Court of Auditors, European Banking Authority, European Public Prosecutor’s Office, Europol and up to 30 Directorate Generals of the EC. They will apply the data to form a comprehensive understanding of the increasing threat of fraud and financial crime in the EU.

Auditing Body Releases ESG Data Assurance Proposal

The global auditing standards setter, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB), has released its proposals for ISSA 5000, which will cover the validation of ESG data. As the IAASB explained to ESG Insight last week, the standard – if adopted – is hoped to harmonise the way ESG data is verified by auditors.

With Intelligence Plans Growth Acceleration Following Investment by Motive Partners

With Intelligence, a provider of investment data and intelligence for allocating, fund-raising and business development in the public and private markets, has received a majority investment from funds advised by Motive Partners, a private equity firm focused on financial technology. Intermediate Capital Group, which originally invested in With Intelligence in 2020, will invest further alongside Motive.

The company plans to use the investment to accelerate growth as it focuses on delivering leading connectivity, data and insights solutions to the limited partner and general partner communities. Founded in 1998, With Intelligence is a provider of data, intelligence and connectivity to the global asset management industry, with an integrated product suite of data, insights and events covering hedge funds, private credit, private equity, real estate and traditional asset management.

Capco Partners Pyramid Analytics to Simplify Decision Making

Capco, a Wipro technology and management consultancy dedicated to financial services, has partnered Pyramid Analytics, a business analytics and decision intelligence platform provider, to help financial institutions simplify decision-making through AI-augmented, automated, and collaborative insights. The partnership brings together Capco’s financial services experience and expertise in data and analytics with Pyramid’s strategic, enterprise-wide approach to business intelligence. Pyramid’s Decision Intelligence Platform offers a low-code/no-code solution to data preparation, business analytics, data science, and machine learning, empowering faster, more intelligent decisions.

Decision Makers Turn to Cloud-Based Data Management

Some 59% of senior managers and directors in financial services are using cloud-based data for portfolio management. Additional use cases include risk management, collateral management and internal data marketplaces, according to research commissioned by Alveo and conducted in April among investment managers, asset owners, banks and insurance companies across the UK, US and Asia-Pacific.

With growth in cloud commitment continuing, the research noted that many firms are adopting a range of cloud-based data practices, with 56% carrying out new internal application development using cloud native components and architecture, and 34% rearchitecting existing internal applications.

Quantexa Invests Additional £125 Million in AI

Quantexa, a provider of decision intelligence solutions, plans to invest an additional £125 million in AI over the next three years to help clients advance the use of AI to protect, optimise, and grow their organisations. In line with the investment, the company has previewed its generative AI technology, Q Assist, and says it will further develop its AI stack to offer industry-specific use cases for sectors including financial services.

Crux Expands Data Partnership with Databricks

Crux, a data integration, transformation, and observability solution, has expanded its partnership with Databricks by adding pre-integration services to its existing Partner Connect integration. The company has worked with its data provider network to make a total of 75 data sources available for consumption in the Databricks Marketplace. With this expansion, a large number of paid financial datasets on Databricks Marketplace are powered by Crux.

Canoe Adds Apliqo Performance Management and Business Planning to Partner Programme

Canoe Intelligence, a provider of alternative investment processes for institutional investors and wealth managers, has added Apliqo, a software provider of advanced performance management and business planning to its partner programme. Based in Zurich, Apliqo offers LP Portfolio Management, an intuitive and dynamic analytics platform for private market investors. Using Canoe’s open APIs, Apliqo pulls documents and data collected, categorised, extracted, and validated by Canoe into its system for aggregation, analysis, and reporting.

ISS ESG to Update Cyber Risk Score Model

ISS ESG is to tweak the model behind its recently launched Cyber Risk Score to make it easier to identify “good” and “bad” scores.

“The ability for this model to differentiate ‘goods’ from ‘bads’ by discerning forward-looking risk, is a key differentiator in the market,” the company said. The new version, 5.0, also updates its Incident Type Likelihood ranking of potential cyber breaches.

Many companies are including cybersecurity within their ESG processes because they recognise that protection of personal and corporate data falls within the social and governance pillars.

The sustainable investment arm of Institutional Shareholder Services, which launched the service earlier this year, said the enhancements would be rolled out by the end of July.

Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 Makes Progress with Royal Ascent

The Financial Services and Markets Act 2023 has received royal ascent on route to delivering the UK Government’s vision of growing the economy and creating an open, sustainable, and technologically advanced financial services sector. Post-Brexit, the act tailors financial services regulation to fit UK markets and is expected to increase UK competitiveness as a global financial centre and deliver better outcomes for consumers and businesses.

New powers include reforms to Solvency II, which are calculated to unlock around £100 billion for investment, and secondary objectives for the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) to facilitate the growth and international competitiveness of the UK economy. This will be backed up by changes to enhance the scrutiny and accountability of the regulators, including ensuring regular reporting and a greater focus on cost-benefit analyses.