Executives Planning to Substantially Increase ESG Data Spend

ESG data demand is on the rise among portfolio managers, with the vast majority planning to substantially increase spending on the resource, according to a Bloomberg survey.

The financial data giant’s ESG Data Acquisition and Management Survey of more than 100 managers and executives found that 92 per cent would boost spending on ESG data by more than 10 per cent and almost a fifth would increase it by 50 per cent.

The survey found, however, that around half of respondents said that contending with new ESG content and managing multiple data feeds was a challenge.

Exegy Launches Advanced Ticker Plant for Optimised Options Market Data Processing

Exegy, the front-office trading solutions vendor, has introduced its next generation ticker plant, specifically designed for processing options market data. The new platform is capable of processing the entire OPRA feed on a single 2U server and offers a 2x reduction in latency compared to its predecessor.

As options trading volumes rise and with the new OPRA feed set to launch on October 9th, OPRA’s guidance states that participants should prepare for capacity of 120+ million messages per second following the expansion. Exegy’s FPGA-based appliance is designed to provide significantly higher throughput than software-based systems.

TS Imagine Integrates CLSA’s AI-powered European Algo Suite into its Platform

TS Imagine, the global provider of trading, portfolio, and risk management solutions for financial institutions, has integrated CLSA’s AI-powered European algorithmic trading suite into its platform. This move is part of TS Imagine’s ongoing effort to offer cutting-edge trading tools to its clients.

Investment managers who use TradeSmart, TS Imagine’s platform with pre-certified connections to over 250 brokers and venues, will now have access to CLSA’s AI-powered European algorithmic suite, a proprietary AI technology allowing the algorithms to learn and adapt as they trade, and which uses neural networks and dynamic execution planning to adapt trading strategies in real time based on changing market conditions.

Bloomberg Launches New FX Pricing Quality Tools for FXGO Clients

Bloomberg has introduced a new suite of FX Pricing Quality tools to clients of the FXGO multi-bank FX trading platform, through MISX, the company’s multi-asset reporting tool for electronic trading. The tools allow users to swiftly analyse and assess pricing quality and performance for any RFQ pricing requests sent over FXGO, including batch trades,

The new FX Pricing Quality Tools aim to help both price makers and takers understand and improve their pricing quality. Price makers can pinpoint missed pricing opportunities and their causes, such as internal counterparty setup issues or internal credit rejects. Price takers, on the other hand, can investigate counterparty pricing performance, including how often a counterparty priced and won a trade or declined to price.

Aquis Exchange Acquires Minority Stake in US-based Startup OptimX

Pan-European equities market operator Aquis Exchange has taken a minority stake in OptimX Markets Inc., a US-based startup focused on block trading solutions. The investment will enable Aquis to integrate its technology platform with OptimX’s suite, which is aimed at aiding investment banks, brokers, and institutions in the block trading market.

The investment totals $1.5m, and is made as part of a consortium that includes DB1 Ventures, the venture capital arm of Deutsche Boerse Group. Aquis’s COO, Jonathan Clelland, is expected to join the OptimX board as a Non-Executive Director in the future.

Parameta Solutions and General Index Launch New LNG Pricing Service

OTC market & transactional data provider Parameta Solutions, a division of TP ICAP, has teamed up with benchmark provider General Index (GX), to introduce a new liquified natural gas (LNG) pricing service. This service will provide daily benchmarks for transparent trading between key LNG hubs.

Powered by data from TP ICAP’s Energy & Commodities desks, the Parameta Solutions Global LNG Basis Indices will offer a tech-led approach to price evaluations, according to the company. Managed by GX, these indices will aim to assist with price discovery, act as a reference rate in financial agreements, and support clearing and settlement procedures.

LSEG Commits to Transition Clients from Eikon to Workspace by End of 2024

The London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) intends to transition its clients from the Refinitiv Eikon platform to its newer Workspace system by the close of 2024. During LSEG’s 2023 H1  earnings call, David Schwimmer, LSEG’s chief executive, revealed that Refinitiv’s financial platform, Eikon, would be discontinued in early 2025, anticipating that the shift to Workspace would largely be complete by the end of 2024.

The transition comes after LSEG’s acquisition of Refinitiv in 2021 for $27bn, resulting in subscription revenue making up over 75% of the group’s earnings. LSEG’s collaboration with Microsoft on the Workspace platform has been significant, with Microsoft investing a 4% stake in the exchange at the end of last year.

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.

Europe Adopts Reporting Standards for CSRD Disclosures

The European Commission has given assent to its own set of guidelines for the estimated 50,000 companies that will be required to report their ESG performance data under the Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive (CSRD). The European Sustainability Reporting Directive considers frameworks established by the International Sustainability Standards Board and GRI and will be applicable when companies first report under CSRD in 2025.

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.