ISS ESG Adds Biodiversity Data to Fund Rating and Screening Tools

ISS ESG has incorporated nature-focussed data into its ESG funds assessment tool.

Investors can use the ISS ESG Biodiversity Fund Screening dataset to establish the risks from nature and water loss faced by equity and bond funds. It expands the sustainable investing arm of ISS STOXX’s Fund Rating and Fund Screening tools, which offer clients a broad spectrum of ESG assessments of their holdings.

“ISS ESG has applied its extensive ESG research and data management expertise to enhance its ESG Fund Rating thematic coverage, developing a broad and deep dataset to help support a wide range of investor use cases,” said Till Jung, head of ESG business at ISS STOXX.

SG Fund Rating can be accessed via its DataDesk and through data feeds, APIs and the cloud. It is built on 2,600 ESG data factors.

Informatica to Manage Data, Governance for Lenders Mortgage Insurer Helia

Helia, an Australian lenders mortgage insurer, has selected Informatica to improve data management and governance around its claims processing capabilities as the home loans sector sees a surge in digitalisation.

Sydney-headquartered Helia said the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered data services company would help it accelerate claims and streamline its data pipeline. It hopes that the using Informatica’s Intelligent Data management Cloud will also enable the company to enhance its customer engagement using chatbots and automated decision making.

“By taking control of our data and implementing AI-powered data governance, we’re building a foundation to surpass our customers’ expectations and maximise value from AI,” said Michelle Soakell-Ho, data governance leader at Helia.

Bloomberg Lets Customers Test Drive its Datasets

Bloomberg is throwing open its data trove to prospective users, enabling them to interact with the information before deciding on whether to buy into new datasets.

The Virtual Data Room will give customers the chance to explore the coverage, quality and usability of Bloomberg’s Bulk Data License datasets. The service is designed to accelerate the data onboarding process, which usually takes a minimum of three months, New York-based Bloomberg said.

“The Virtual Data Room is akin to test driving a new car before you buy it,” said Brian Doherty, Global Head of Data License at Bloomberg.

BlueFlame AI Applies GenAI to Alternative Markets Data Processes

BlueFlame AI said it has made the process of mining and analysing data from documents easier for private and other alternative market participants with the creation of its Nexus product.

The offering, backed by generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), enables clients to pull critical data from unstructured sources such as management and board decks, presentations, contracts, reports and other documents, the London-based company said.

“In today’s data-driven investment landscape, the ability to quickly extract valuable insights from vast amounts of unstructured information is crucial,” BlueFlame AI chief executive Raj Bakhru said.

NeoXam’s Impress Deployed to Manage Ecofi Reporting Process

NeoXam has been selected to handle the entire reporting process for Ecofi, Groupe Credit Cooperatif’s asset manager.

The France-based financial software and technology provider has signed a deal to deploy its SaaS-based Impress platform to manage the French banking group’s data collection, quality checks, performance analytics computation as well as reporting templating and generation for the full range of its funds.

NeoXam Integrates SIX’s ULTUMUS Data and Index Feeds for ETFs

Clients of NeoXam’s DataHub will have access to data, indices and other services linked to ETFs and other passive funds via SIX’s ULTUMUS feed.

The London-based data management and investment technology provider said the integration of ULTUMUS will offer users a “single source of data on multi-asset ETFs alongside complete composition, reference, flow, corporate actions, and dividends data sets”.

NeoXam said the move is timed to capitalise on growing demand for ETFs in Europe, which saw first-quarter assets under management soar 10 per cent on the previous three months to a record US$1.8 trillion, according to Morningstar.

NeoXam managing director of EMEA North and ZAF, Philipp Sfeir, said the company had seen huge demand for a “consolidated view” of ETF and index data in recent months.

“Market developments in this data segment underscore the importance of utilising NeoXam DataHub as a consolidation and dissemination platform,” Sfeir said.

Among the services provided by ULTUMUS are global indices including those of MSCI, S&P Global and FTSE.

Finbourne Doubles Funding in £55m Series B Round

Finbourne Technology has almost doubled the capital it has raised from investors, with the latest series B injection increasing its total by £55 million to more than £100m.

Six existing investors in the London-based investment data management solutions provider chipped in more funds and they were joined by another four investors. Two of them, CommerzVentures and HSBC, will have a presence on the Finbourne board as observers, the company said.

Finbourne offers a range of data management services, including through its SaaS-based LUSID platform, which are being utilised by clients including Northern Trust, Omba Advisory and the Pension Insurance Corporation.

While the company didn’t detail how it would use the proceeds from the secondary funding round, chief executive and co-founder Thomas McHugh said that Finbourne is looking to “significantly expand” its client base.

Earlier this year Finbourne said it would expand its sales, product and marketing capabilities in the UK, the US, Ireland, Singapore and Australia.

The company drew in £55m during its previous series B funding round in June, which was led by venture capital firm Highland Europe and AXA Venture Partners. That followed a £15m injection in 2021. It also has a £30m debt facility from Kreos Capital.

Preqin Alternatives Data Integrates With Bipsync Tech

Asset management technology platform Bipsync has integrated alternative markets information and technology specialist Prequin’s data into its tools and services.

Clients of each company will be able to access Preqin’s data and insights within New York-based Bipsync’s workflow automation tech. The tie-up enables users to integrate Preqin data with their own to give the broadest view of their portfolios.

ESG Book Clients Offered Access to Vyzrd Climate Technology

Sustainability data provider ESG Book is to use Australian firm Vyzrd’s climate risk technology to help clients assess their portfolios’ exposure to threats posed by global warming.

Clients of ESG Book’s SaaS-based platform will be able to use Vyzrd’s Climate Forward analytics to put a value on the risks that assets face from climate change and net-zero transition policies.

Taleo to Use CrateDB Data and Tech for Financial Clients

CrateDB’s database services will be used by Luxembourg-headquartered consultancy firm Taleo to help its financial clients with their data management and analytics processes.

Taleo will harness California-based CrateDB’s data to surface real-time insights in the banking, insurance and data management sectors. It will also aid clients in enhancing risk management and compliance capabilities, improve customer experience and loyalty, streamline underwriting processes and optimise portfolio performance, CrateDB said.