UK Said to Propose Regulation of ESG Ratings Providers

The UK is to unveil plans to regulate ESG ratings providers, according to a report in the Financial Times. The proposal is expected to be announced in January, the report said Whitehall citing sources.

Any such submission would indicate a change of approach by the country’s regulators, who until now have suggested only that firms providing ratings should work to a voluntary code of conduct to help reduce confusion among investors.

ESG ratings have been criticised for offering widely different ratings from each other on the same companies, making it difficult for investors to assess which would best suit their mandates.

Broadridge Offers AI Tools to Help Asset Managers Optimise Product, Strategy and Distribution Decisions

Broadridge Financial Solutions is offering two AI-enabled analytics tools to optimise product, strategy and distribution decision-making for asset managers. DistributionAI is a natural language digital analyst tool within Broadridge’s Distribution Insight platform that provides access to proprietary global asset management market intelligence and research reports to help asset managers optimise distribution, product development, and sales and marketing.

Global Demand Model measures and analyses demand for asset management products today and in the future. It tracks over $100 trillion of global assets and uses AI-driven models to understand the relationship between asset flows and thousands of predictive capital market and macroeconomic features, coupled to human in the loop systems. This equips asset managers with more confidence in the analysis of current and future product demand.

Quantexa Opens Asia-Pacific Headquarters in Singapore

Quantexa, a provider of decision intelligence solutions, has opened Asia-Pacific headquarters in Singapore. The opening is part of a broader regional expansion plan and follows the July 2023 start of Quantexa’s Japan operations in Tokyo and long-standing presence in Melbourne, Sydney and Malaysia. Further expansion into Hong Kong is expected in 2024.

The regional headquarters will provide sales, marketing, product management, and professional services capabilities to support customer implementations of the company’s Decision Intelligence Platform. The opening of the Singapore office follows Quantexa’s recent completion of a Series E funding round led by GIC Singapore.

Australia Publishes Proposals for Sustainable Finance Strategy

Australia has outlined its proposed Sustainable Finance Strategy, including a taxonomy to help create a net-zero framework and a labelling system for green investment products.

The Treasury set out its plans in a consultation document that had been promised in December last year. It calls for transparency in reporting climate impacts and materiality.

Like its EU counterpart, the proposed Australian taxonomy would help manufacturers of financial products assess how closely their funds aligned with sustainability principles and targets. The labelling regime will focus on preventing abuse within retail investment markets.

TS Imagine Launches Best Execution Compliance Module

In a development complementing TS Imagine’s recent collaboration with eflow for trade surveillance capabilities, the trading and risk management platform provider has introduced a new module within its TradeSmart OEMS and TS One platforms to enhance Best Execution compliance and reporting for financial traders.

Designed to simplify compliance, the module offers an integrated view of trade activities, automatically records trading actions, provides robust data analysis, event classification and real-time commentary functionalities, and generate best execution reports. The module is pre-programed with more than 60,000 rules from across global jurisdictions, enabling users to automatically record and report their Best Ex compliance.

BMLL Technologies Secures ISO 27001 Certification for Data Security

Level 3 historical data and analytics provider BMLL Technologies, has been awarded the ISO 27001 certification, underscoring its commitment to the highest standards of information security. This international accreditation confirms BMLL’s effectiveness in implementing a robust Information Security Management System (ISMS), covering all aspects of its operations, including the development and management of its analytics platforms and data services.

The certification, awarded after rigorous independent evaluation, confirms that BMLL follows stringent security practices to protect sensitive data, reinforcing the company’s reputation as a trusted provider of Level 3 historical data and analytics to the capital markets industry.

S&P-Oliver Wyman Tie-Up Adds Physical Risk to Climate Data Service

S&P Global Market Intelligence has added climate-related physical risk metrics to its Climate Credit Analytics tool in a tie-up with management consulting firm Oliver Wyman.

The product will be powered by S&P Sustainable1 data on more than 20,000 companies to help financial institutions assess their portfolio exposure to the risks associated with climate change.

Climate Credit Analytics was launched in 2021 with Oliver Wyman. The latest addition maps corporate data across seven climate change-related hazards.

“This new release will serve banks, insurers, asset managers, asset owners and corporate risk managers to quantify climate risks in an even more thorough manner and thereby more readily integrate into business decisions and client engagement,” said Oliver Wyman partner and vice chairman of financial services for the Americas John Colas.

ESG Book Develops EM Data Tool for FII

Sustainability data and technology firm ESG Book has developed a new service for The Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute designed to improve ESG data generated from emerging markets.

Non-profit FII enlisted the Germany-based data vendor to create the Inclusive ESG Score to help companies within the regions better report on their sustainability efforts. It is hoped this will plug a US$5.4 billion ESG investment gap in emerging markets.

The initiative was unveiled at the FII’s flagship conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this week.“The Inclusive ESG Score is

a next-generation tool for investors that identifies the sustainability leaders of today and tomorrow, with a transparent, data-driven approach that is tailored to emerging markets,” said ESG Book chief executive Daniel Klier. “Through this partnership, we look forward to providing a solution that enhances investment decision-making, and in turn helps to drive greater ESG investment flows to emerging market companies.”

DTCC Introduces Trade Reporting Analytics and UTI Exchange to Report Hub Service

DTCC has announced the launch of Trade Reporting Analytics and UTI Exchange as enhancements to Report Hub, its cloud-based pre- and post-trade reporting platform, designed to help firms meet derivatives and securities financing transactions mandates.

Trade Reporting Analytics provides access to a library of over 100 data insights to identify potential errors, highlight trends, and benchmark performance against anonymized peers. The system’s capabilities have been validated by a pilot user group including J.P. Morgan, Nomura Americas Services, LLC and Wells Fargo.

Substantive Research Uncovers Rapid Increases in Market Data Pricing Amidst Regulatory Scrutiny

The latest analysis of 2023 market data pricing from research discovery and analytics provider Substantive Research, reveals that market data prices are going up faster than ever, identical products and use cases are charged inconsistently, and agreements are persistently unclear.

This comes despite the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) ongoing review into market data pricing practices. In August 2023, the FCA indicated that its highly anticipated Wholesale Market Data Study, due for publication in March 2024, will outline several concerns, including restrictive terms around data usage, high barriers to entry, high contract renewal charges, and a lack of meaningful innovation in the market.

Although the FCA has found that some aspects of the market prevent, restrict or distort competition, it has stated it not proposing to make a referral to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, believing it is best positioned to address these issues within the FCA itself.

Substantive Research’s data shows ratings agencies have increased prices by an average 12%, index providers by an average 13%, and some outliers have charged clients up to 600% more. For specific products, some consumers are paying more than 26 times than others for very similar requirements, according to the analysis.