Schwab Offers MSCI ESG Ratings to Clients

Investment giant Charles Schwab is to make third-party ESG data available to its customers. The Texas-based financial services firm will offer MSCI ESG Ratings through its web-based research too and via relevant stocks’ Schwab Equity Ratings Report. MSCI’s ratings are designed to gauge a company’s reliance to long-term ESG risks.

ESG360 Provides Moody’s Clients with ESG, Climate Risk Exposure Measures

Moody’s Investors Service has created a new platform to provide portfolio manager with ESG scores and models on private and listed companies. Moody’s ESG360, is described as an “easy-to-use” service that will enable clients to better understand the short- and long-term ESG and climate risks exposures.

Fenergo Acquires Transaction Monitoring Market Entrant Sentinels

Fenergo has acquired Sentinels, an anti-money laundering (AML) transaction monitoring market entrant with artificial intelligence (AI) based technology. As a result of the deal, Fenergo’s clients and financial institutions will be able to combine rich KYC profiles with client behavioural data for continuous and granular KYC monitoring.

Marc Murphy, CEO of Fenergo, comments: “Our shared goal of aiming to solve the increasing compliance and operational challenges facing financial institutions made Sentinels an ideal fit. By adding transaction compliance to our existing client onboarding and product origination solutions, financial institutions can monitor and review client behaviour and identify risks on an ongoing basis. This blended approach to financial crime makes us well placed to address the rising compliance challenges faced by financial institutions more efficiently.”

SmartTrade Releases LiquidityFX Next-Generation Platform

Four months after its acquisition of TickTrade Systems, electronic trading platform provider smartTrade Technologies is now releasing a combined LiquidityFX next-generation (LFX-NG) platform, which aims to combine the best of both pre-existing solutions. LFX-NG offers a range of modules, from AI-driven analytics to cryptocurrencies trading through customisable workflows for all client segments. The solution covers spot, forward, NDFs, options, cryptocurrencies and payment routing, and can be deployed either as a full stack or as individual modules.

Higo Bank Selects Tora EMS for Equities Trading

Tora, the order and execution management system vendor recently acquired by London Stock Exchange Group, has been selected by Higo Bank to upgrade their electronic equity trading operations. Higo cited Tora’s Japanese GUI, trade management and position monitoring tools, and a compliance engine set up for Japanese market regulations as key selection criteria. Higo was also keen to invest in a hosted environment platform to reduce their initial IT cost overhead, according to the company.

Colt Offers 10 Gbps Connectivity for AWS Clients in APAC

Colt Technology Services has launched its Colt On Demand cloud connectivity to AWS Direct Connect Hosted services, with speeds of up to 10 Gbps, for customers in Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Until now, 10 Gbps connectivity was only available on AWS Direct Connect Dedicated services. This enhancement allows customers can now connect directly to AWS Direct Connect Hosted services without having to use cross-connects, reducing cost and increasing speed of delivery. Customers can also make use of different AWS virtual interfaces (private, public, transit).

FCA to Require Board Diversity Disclosure

The UK’s financial regulator, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), will expect listed companies to disclose board and executive committee diversity metrics in their sustainability reports. The finalised rule is intended to give investors transparency into the race and gender makeup of management teams. Companies will be required to make the declarations in their reports for the fiscal year that began this month. The FCA will set targets and companies failing to reach them will be expected to explain why.

DSB Publishes Final Report on UPI Legal Terms and Conditions Consultation

The Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) has published the final report on its UPI legal terms and conditions consultation and draft user legal documentation. The report focuses on industry feedback received on the consultation paper and confirms the legal provisions and associated mechanisms to be taken forward with respect to DSB legal documentation. Stakeholder feedback to the consultation covered topics including the introduction of a UPI Client Onboarding and Support Platform (COSP), use of the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) for user onboarding verification, use of pre-payment for lower value user fees, and fee model variables to be used for annual fee determination.

ICE Releases Data Solution for EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) has released a data service designed to help clients comply with the Principal Adverse Impacts (PAIs) element of the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR). The ICE SFDR PAI solution offers users event-triggered updates for all the mandatory adverse sustainability indicators applicable to investments in companies, sovereigns and supranationals.

The EU’s PAI regime requires specifically formatted disclosure on ESG-related indicators, including greenhouse gas emissions, board gender diversity, and energy consumption ratios, all of which are available in a conveniently formatted file or web viewing tool to clients as part of the ICE solution. The service also allows customers to link equity and fixed income securities to the closest disclosing corporate entity, offering a way to quickly match a security to the nearest parent entity with disclosed data.

FactSet’s Portware Becomes Latest EMS to Integrate with Appital’s Bookbuilding Platform

Appital, the equity capital marketplace, has added FactSet’s Portware EMS to its growing list of integrations, following FlexTrade and Instinet. The integration of Appital’s bookbuilding platform in Portware automates what has traditionally been a highly manual process, while at the same time giving buyside traders the ability to place very large orders or participate in unique liquidity opportunities, according to the company.

Appital is now onboarding asset managers onto its platform in preparation for launch later this year, and has established a working group to help mutual clients define how they want to interact with hard-to-find liquidity, and proactively build books of demand.