GLEIF Initiates Use of Verifiable LEI with Signing of 2021 Annual Report

The Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) has achieved a milestone in the realisation of a global ecosystem for digital business identity with the first use of a verifiable Legal Entity Identifier (vLEI) to sign its 2021 annual report. The vLEI, a digitally trusted version of the LEI, has the potential to meet the need for automated digital verification of the legal identities of businesses.

GLEIF’s annual report illustrates that vLEIs can be used to sign specific sections, or even facts, within a report or data set, as well as reports in their entirety. Financial statements have been signed, using individual vLEIs, by GLEIF’s chief financial officer and GLEIF’s auditors. The entire report has been signed by the foundation’s CEO and board chair.

GLEIF is now working to finalise a qualification programme to enable vLEI issuers to become operational later in the year. For the purpose of the proof-of-concept annual report demonstration, GLEIF granted Ubisecure temporary vLEI Issuer status, which enabled Ubisecure to issue GLEIF with vLEIs.

Deepki Acquires Property Sustainability Assessor Fabriq

Real estate ESG data provider Deepki has bought its UK-based competitor Fabriq weeks after revealing to ESG Insight that it wanted to use a €150 million cash injection to expand its global reach. London- and Paris-based Deepki didn’t disclose the value of the latest deal. Fabriq’s software helps real estate owners reduce their carbon footprints by gathering and analysing energy efficiency data.

Linedata Releases Next Generation Portfolio Management Solution

Linedata has introduced its next generation portfolio management solution, Linedata Accumen, a suite of web-based features powered by the company’s asset management platform, and built to work alongside the company’s Longview trade order management system to help asset managers serve clients quickly and continuously. The solution includes interactive dashboards and summaries enabling investment teams to continuously monitor portfolios with a holistic view across entire books of business and investment activity, while receiving automatic notifications when action is needed.

“Leveraging personalisation and automation is the next generation of portfolio management that saves both time and effort for investment teams,” says Timothée Raymond, global head of innovation and technology at Linedata. “We know asset managers are under constant pressure to meet sales objectives, which is why we developed Accumen to provide then with a bird’s-eye view of every portfolio to pinpoint where attention is necessary, and deliver real-time alerts with meaningful insights into both overall and individual accounts.”

SEB Acquires Stake in Swedish Property Data Firm Metry

SEB Greentech Venture Capital has bought a stake in Swedish sustainability data firm Metry to capitalise on rising demand from banks for ESG-related performance indicators on real estate. Metry gathers data from the built environment to help owners and investors make property more efficient and to help them report on their assets’ green credentials.

Survey Finds Three-Quarters of Leaders Lack Confidence in Data

Almost three-quarters of senior decision makers have no confidence in data being reported to stakeholders, according to a global survey of executives by Workiva. The study also found that organisations are dividing their sustainability budgets 43 per cent to environment, 29 per cent to social and 28 per cent to governance.

Buy-Side Firms Increase Investment in ESG Data Management

Buy-side firms are expected to increase investment in ESG data management over the next two years as they prioritise data availability, comparability, usability and workflow integration. For those that decide to outsource ESG data management capabilities, favoured models will be based on Data-as-a-Service.

Taking a snapshot of buy-side firms’ ESG data management plans, research commissioned by cloud-based market data management services company Alveo, shows 90% of executives polled across buy-side firms in the UK, US and Asia expect investment in ESG data management to increase over the next two years, with 57% anticipating an over 25% increase in that timeframe.

Key capabilities include AI and machine learning (ML), with 98% of firms using these technologies for analytics in their approach to ESG data management today, although only 35% are making extensive use of these capabilities.

Temenos Launches ESG-as-a-Service for Wealth, Bank Clients

Banking software provider Temenos has created an ESG-as-a-service products that enable its bank and wealth management clients to create financial products to meet growing demand for sustainable investments. The new offering will run on the Swiss company’s Temenos Banking Cloud but can also be accessed via any cloud or on-premises infrastructure.

Arabesque Renames its X-Ray ESG Product as it Scales Business

Arabesque has rebranded its core S-Ray ESG data product to ESG Book, the name that had been given to its publicly available data resources. The German data provider and asset manager said the move was part of a scaling of its sustainability business. ESG Book was launched late last year with the backing of financial institutions including HSBC, Deutsche Bank and The International Finance Corporation (IFC).

FNZ Invests in ESG Data Provider GIST for its Wealth Tools

FNZ has deepened its ties with GIST, making a “strategic investment” in the sustainable data and analytics provider to extend its own ESG offering to wealthy clients. The New Zealand-founded digital wealth management platform said the deal would help enrich corporate data on FNZ Impact, the company’s sustainable investment tool that links its clients with 8,000 wealth management firms and 650 financial institutions.

FIs Spending $1.4m on ESG Analytics, Disclosure

A new study that puts a dollar cost to climate-related performance reporting has found that the cost of gathering, analysing and reporting data by financial institutes is $1.37 million annually, while corporate issuers spend US$533,000 a year on disclosures. The report by The SustainAbility Institute by ERM for Ceres and Persefoni, also found that firms said benefits of disclosure and assessment included improved achievement of sustainability goals, better access to data that can help enhance corporate strategy and, in some cases, lower cost of capital.