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.

Encompass Forms Transformation Team to Help Banks Drive KYC Automation Initiatives

Encompass, a provider of a Know Your Customer (KYC) automation platform, has set up a transformation team charged with ensuring banks reap the benefits of automation initiatives. The team will help companies define what success means and facilitate organisational alignment required to achieve KYC transformation.
Encompass transformation directors include former Barclays senior executive Howard Wimpory, who joined Encompass in London in 2021; Jo Scanlon, who supports customers in APAC; and Darren Marion, also part of the team in Sydney, Australia. Nicola Pickering, vice president, customer success and delivery at Encompass, comments: “It is great to hear from customers how valuable our team’s direction and thought leadership is in navigating KYC transformational change.”

Bloomberg Releases Price Transparency Data Solution for SEC Rule 2a-5

Bloomberg has released a price transparency data solution aimed at helping clients tackle the regulatory challenges presented by SEC Rule 2a-5’s requirements for readily available market quotations. The solution is powered by BVAL, Bloomberg’s evaluated pricing service, and is
available to BVAL customers ahead of the compliance data of 8 September, 2022 for new SEC rule, which is part of a broader regulatory trend around pricing transparency and valuation oversight.

“Given the need to understand in detail what is behind a price, clients approached us seeking a solution to navigate compliance with Rule 2a-5,” says Brad Foster, global head of enterprise data content at Bloomberg. “BVAL’s price transparency data fields and our detailed rules engines enabled us to design a data solution to help compliance and legal teams adapt to the rule’s requirements for readily available market quotations.”

Bloomberg Releases New Common Data Format for LEIs

Bloomberg has released the common data format 3.1 (CDF 3.1) for Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs). The latest CDF published by the Global LEI Foundation includes six entity category data fields that depict the type of legal entity, such as investment fund or government entity, as well as residential government entities, types of fund relationships and corporate events like name or address changes.

These inclusions are designed to increases transparency of legal entity types, relationships and events, enabling firms to better understand their exposure to different types of legal entities, ensure they are meeting KYC requirements, and have access to meta data for onboarding clients. Steve Meizanis, global head of symbology and LEI services at Bloomberg, says: “The additional data being collected around mutual funds, government entities and corporate events allows the LEI to meet the evolving entity identification needs of the industry.”

Refinitiv Makes Quant Data Available on Snowflake Data Cloud

Refinitiv, an LSEG business, has made its quantitative data available on Snowflake’s financial services data cloud, allowing asset managers and hedge funds to access the data alongside existing vendor and proprietary data on the Snowflake data cloud. The Refinitiv data includes a repository of 60-plus financial data sets, quantitative alpha models and other third-party and alternative data sets.

Austin Burkett, head of quantitative analytics and content at Refinitiv, comments: “Our clients require solutions that help speed and simplify the data intake and concordance process. Our quantitative analytics service is a trusted and longstanding offering in the market, and its delivery through Snowflake magnifies its value to our mutual clients.”