Supply Chain ESG Solution Launched by Sustainalytics

Sustainalytics has created Corporate Supply Chain ESG Solutions, a service that will enable clients to gauge the sustainability of companies in their supply chains. The Morningstar unit said the offering would help many industries assess, report and mitigate their ESG risks. The product is delivered through Sustainlytics’ ESG Assessment Platform and draws on the Amsterdam-based company’s huge data pools and its ESG Risk Ratings product.

APAA ESG Risk Guide Stops Short of Mandatory Disclosures

The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority has become the latest overseer to issue a guidance on banks’ management of climate risks in their portfolios. While its latest guidance offers advice on how institutions should approach the issue, it does not advocate mandatory ESG disclosures. Instead, the regulator said lenders should consider whether other “voluntary disclosures could be beneficial in enhancing transparency and giving confidence to the wider market”.

Banks, Institutions Back ESG Book’s Free Data Project

An alliance of global banks, institutions and investors has launched ESG Book, a free source of information that its creators say will make sustainability data a public good. Companies will be able to freely access the data lake to help them report on their own ESG records and financial institutions will be able to use it to gauge the sustainability of their portfolios. ESG Book will be hosted on a platform built by Frankfurt-based data vendor Arabesque. We’ll be following up with more details on this one soon!

Aztec Group Selects Fenergo Client Lifecycle Management Solution

Aztec Group, a specialist in alternative asset classes, has selected Fenergo’s cloud-native Software-as-a-Service client lifecycle management solution to digitalise client and investor journeys. The solution will be rolled out to replace legacy systems for onboarding and compliance as Aztec Group works towards digital transformation. The Fenergo offering is a fully managed, multi-tenant, API-first platform designed to digitalise the lifecycle process while giving clients self-service access to upload data and documentation through an easy-to-use portal.

Finastra Adds €STR, TONAR and SORA Rates to Fusion LIBOR Transition Calculator

Finastra has introduced additional Alternative Reference Rates (ARR) and Risk-Free Rates (RFRs) to its Fusion LIBOR Transition Calculator. The move enables banks, corporates and borrowers to calculate ARR in preparation for the end of the majority of LIBOR rates on December 31, 2021. In addition to SOFR for the US dollar and SONIA for pounds sterling, the calculator service now incorporates ARR rates €STR for the euro and TONAR for the Japanese yen, and the RFR rate SORA for the Singapore dollar.

The calculator service is available through Finastra’s FusionFabric.cloud open innovation platform and can be integrated with a bank’s existing lending systems. The use of Open APIs facilitates integration with legacy systems that have not been prepared for the LIBOR transition and are unable to perform complex ARR calculations. The Finastra calculated ARR rates can be directly consumed by these legacy applications, avoiding the need for complex and costly system changes.

Railpen Chooses FINBOURNE LUSID to Provide IBOR

Railpen, a large UK pension fund, has chosen FINBOURNE’s cloud-based investment data management platform LUSID as its Investment Book of Record (IBOR). The decision forms a pillar in Railpen’s data management strategy as it continues to enrich in-house operations, adding new and future-proof capabilities across the middle and back office. Railpen made a market review for an independent IBOR that could open access to data across the organisation before selecting the LUSID platform as its auditable, real-time, investment data repository. LUSID will support Railpen’s multi-asset portfolios with standardised data and a timely, aggregated view of positions and exposure.

Morningstar Embeds Sustainalystics’ Country Risk Data in its MSR

Financial research provider Morningstar has incorporated Sustainalytics’ country risk ratings to its own Morningstar Sustainability Rating (MSR) product. The data field will be added to the MSR, which offers intelligence on 85,000 fund worldwide. The service is accessible to investors on Morningstar’s website, Morningstar Direct and Morningstar Advisor Workstation. The Canadian company said the new embedded content would be especially useful for assessing the ESG risks of corporate and sovereign fixed-income instruments.

Confluence Bolsters Equities Analytics with AlphaBetaWorks Tech

ESG-data analysis specialist Confluence Analytics said it has enabled greater refinement of equities risk research with the integration of technology provided by AlpahBetaWorks. Pennsylvania-based Confluence said the deal would enable higher-level ESG risk modelling to be included in its ESG Signals and ESG KPI Forecasts products. The upgraded offerings “will address critical shortcomings of legacy ESG investment approaches and deliver superior results for investors and asset allocators”, said Grigori Kapoustin, Principal at California-headquartered AlphaBetaWorks.

IOSCO Suggests Regulation of ESG Data and Tech Vendors

A body comprising global securities regulators gas suggested individual national watchdogs keep ESG data and technology providers under their gaze. The Board of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) said in a report that the growing importance of ESG data and tech vendors made it prudent to encompass them within regulatory remits remits. The report follows an IOSCO consultation on the matter launched in July and comes on the heels of revelations last month that the UK is considering such a move.

SS&C Makes Approach to Acquire London-Based Automation Specialist Blue Prism

SS&C Technologies has made a preliminary approach to Blue Prism Group regarding a possible cash offer to acquire the entire issued and to-be-issued share capital of the company. London-based Blue Prism is a global leader in enterprise intelligent automation. “Automation has been at the forefront of SS&C’s technology initiatives for several years now,” says Bill Stone, chairman and CEO of SS&C Technologies. “Blue Prism’s innovative solutions are recognised as a leader by robotic process automation analysts, and we believe the company would complement our existing products, particularly Chorus, our intelligent automation solution.”