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.

Know Your Customer and HAWK AI Partner to Strengthen Defence Against Financial Crime

Know Your Customer, a provider of modular digital client onboarding solutions, and Hawk AI, a provider of anti-money laundering surveillance technology for financial institutions, payment firms and fintechs, have made a strategic partnership that will build a stronger defence against financial crime.

The partnership combines Know Your Customer’s digital onboarding and business KYC solutions with Hawk AI’s transaction monitoring capabilities, giving clients access to an integrated offering that will help them centralise and harmonise multiple and often complex elements of their AML programmes. As well as a stronger defence against financial crime, the partnership should provide an improved end customer experience, and gains in operational efficiency.

Snowflake Opens Operations in Mexico to Drive Latin America Customer Growth

Snowflake has opened operations in Mexico with a view to expanding its local and multinational customer base in the country and across Latin America. Sergio Sanchez Polo, country manager for Mexico and LATAM sales lead, heads up the operation and will be by hiring across Latin America with a focus on sales. Snowflake now has offices and operations in 23 countries.

Apex Offers EU Taxonomy Alignment Product

Clients of global financial services provider Apex Group now have access to a new European Union Taxonomy product, which enables investors to assess their portfolios’ alignment with the sustainability classification guideline. The four-step process will give financial clients the opportunity to identify which of their investments are sustainable, manage data collection on the taxonomy’s strict “do no significant harm” tests, gauge alignment and report performance.

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.

Novata and S&P Partner to Enable Collection and Management of Financial and ESG Data

S&P Global Market Intelligence has made a strategic partnership with Novata, provider of an ESG data platform for private markets. The partnership will provide private market investors with a solution that simplifies the process of collecting both financial and ESG data by making Novata’s platform available for S&P Global Market Intelligence customers to bridge ESG data with financial data to provide a single source of insights.

The integration is expected to help market participants make informed decisions about how ESG drives financial outcomes, and enable transparent communication to investors, auditors, boards and other key stakeholders. The platform is intended to be made available through S&P Global Market Intelligence’s iLEVEL, a portfolio monitoring software solution that enables general partners and limited partners to streamline financial data collection.

Fitch Unveils Scoring Product Under its New Sustainable Fitch Brand

Sustainable Fitch, the ratings and data company’s ESG unit, has created a ratings product that scores that will provide investors with information on the impact, outcome and performance of entities and their debt issuance. The ESG Ratings, Data and Analysis product offers scores at the entity, framework and financial instrument level.

Biodiversity and Water Risk Products Announced by ISS ESG

ISS ESG has broadened its nature-linked ESG data and indices offerings with the launch of a Biodiversity Impact Assessment Tool and a Freshwater Index series. The biodiversity tool enables investors to measure the impact of their investments’ activities on nature, while the latest indices highlight a company’s exposure to water risks and its management of water.

Copper.co Deploys Fenergo SaaS Solution to Streamline Client Onboarding

Copper.co, a provider of custody, trading and settlement services for digital assets, will deploy Fenergo’s SaaS-based client lifecycle management and anti-money laundering solution to onboard increasingly complex client ownership structures. With an excess of $50 billion in monthly notional flow across its infrastructure, Copper needs to automate its client onboarding process to cater for clients ranging from institutional asset managers to wealth managers, hedge funds, private banks, crypto funds and family offices.

Linedata Partners Liquid Mercury to Offer Buy-Side Firms Crypto Market Access

Linedata, a provider of asset management technology, data, and services, is providing buy side asset managers with institutional grade access to crypto and digital asset order execution. This is made possible through a collaboration with Liquid Mercury, a digital asset and cryptocurrency trading technology provider, and its order execution management system.