IAASB Sets Out Plan for ESG Assurance Standards

The International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) has put to consultation proposals to standardise the verification of sustainability disclosures. The New York-based global overseer of auditing has invited comments to its website by April.

Broadridge Builds Unified Trading Interface Using Glue42

Broadridge Financial Solutions has announced that clients can now access unique functionality from multiple Broadridge solutions via a single user interface, built using technology from Glue42, the integrated desktop technology vendor.

The new technology, available now in the United Kingdom and launching soon in the European Union and the United States, will deliver interoperability to users via a single login, providing clients with a framework for linking interfaces from multiple Broadridge products, including the Ullink OMS and Tbricks.

Danish Pensions Firm Forca Selects Gresham Technologies to Realise Client Service Benefits

Forca, a Danish pensions services provider, has selected Gresham Technologies Control solution for holdings, cash, and transaction reconciliations. By automating all data validation, reconciliation, and regulatory reporting, the solution will allow Forca to tackle data control issues and focus on exception management and transaction reconciliation. With the implementation of the solution already underway, the pensions firm expects to realise client service benefits including efficient, logical, and intuitive end-to-end data ingestion to reconciliation.

Qlik Plans Acquisition of Talend

Qlik, a provider of data integration and analytics solutions for the financial services sector, plans to acquire Talend, provider of a unified platform dedicated to data integration, integrity, and governance. The deal would bring together two Thoma Bravo-backed firms to deliver a cloud independent portfolio of solutions designed to help customers address data integration, transformation, and governance challenges in the transition to cloud. The transaction is expected to close during the first half of 2023 following regulatory approvals.

Switzerland Proposes Green Labelling Rules

Switzerland has proposed new rules covering the labelling of sustainable financial products traded in the Alpine nation’s markets. The Swiss Federal Council said it will require issuers of the products to be able to justify the use of descriptive terms such as “green” and “ESG”. Among other requirements, the council proposes that issuers include disclosures on their products’ approach to sustainability and provide third-party verification of their credibility.

Thailand Proposes Green Taxonomy to Boost Sustainable Market

Thailand has published proposals for its own green taxonomy to help develop the Southeast Asian nation’s sustainability markets. The draft pilot, put out for consultation late last week, is largely based on the European Union’s taxonomy and will focus first on drawing up parameters for climate change mitigation measures.

Third of Companies Don’t Include Climate Change in Risk Analyses

Almost a third of companies do not take climate change into consideration when analysing risks to their business. An Institute of Management Accountants (IMA) report found that finance departments were among the least likely to regard ESG risks as material. Corporate climate risks and mitigation strategies are metrics that have become increasingly important to investors.

IFRS to Open China Office as Asia Base for ISSB

The IFRS Foundation has signed an agreement to open an office in China from which it will base Asian operations of the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). The three-year memorandum of understanding was signed with the Chinese Ministry of Finance and will initially be the office of ISSB member Bing Leng. “The announcement of the Beijing office is an important step towards the establishment of our global footprint in the ISSB’s inaugural year,” said ISSB chair Emmanuel Faber.

Pico Partners with BSO to Expand Global Crypto Access

Pico, the managed services, software, data and analytics provider, has expanded its partnership with BSO, the infrastructure and connectivity provider, to offer clients access to global crypto exchanges through the combination of BSO’s Crypto Connect service and Pico’s PicoNet.

BSO’s Crypto Connect offers global, low-latency, cloud-to-cloud connections into leading digital asset exchanges. The expanded partnership will provide clients access to over 35 such exchanges in addition to more than 300 global venues currently available on PicoNet.

swXtch.io Integrates Timebeat’s Precision Time Protocol into cloudSwXtch

Following the recent launch of its cloudSwXtch high performance networking product for the cloud, swXtch.io, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IEX Group, has deployed and integrated Timebeat’s Precision Time Protocol (PTP) into the cloudSwXtch technology, enabling clock synchronization across hybrid cloud networks.

The integration of the Timebeat PTP into cloudSwXtch adds standard PTP access to the hybrid cloud and hybrid networks, bringing cloud capabilities in line with on-premises networks.