Latest Stage of UK SDR Comes into Force

The next stage of the UK’s sustainability disclosure requirements (SDR) came into effect today, enabling companies to use the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) new labelling regime for investment products.

The four labels are designed to more accurately reflect the level of sustainability of each product. They have been designed, along with anti-greenwashing rules and guidance introduced in May, to strengthen the country’s sustainability markets.

Arcesium Opens Office in Lisbon

Data management provider Arcesium has opened an office in Lisbon, Portugal, its first in continental Europe.

The New York-headquartered company whose data and investment lifecycle services are used by financial institutions that have a combined US$4.3 trillion under management, said the move was part of its global expansion. It has also offices in the US, UK and India.

ISS STOXX Offers Banks, Insurers New ESG Compliance Data Tool

ISS ESG, the sustainability arm of ISS STOXX, has unveiled its Industry Average Emissions Intensity dataset for use by banks and insurance companies.
The latest addition to the Switzerland-headquartered data and technology provider’s Climate Solutions suite of tools is designed to help companies comply with regulations including the European Banking Authority (EBA) Pillar 3 ESG Disclosures. The tool gives clients the data needed to estimate the emissions of smaller companies and other investments on which sustainability data is scarce.

SymphonyAI Extends Financial Crime Data Solution

Artificial intelligence-powered software-as-a-service provide SymphonyAI has expanded its financial services offerings with a product to help organisations overcome entity data shortcomings that could enable financial crime.

The Palo Alto, California-based company said its Entity Resolution service enables clients to solve issues such as records duplication, poor data quality and data fragmentation. The company, which focuses its financial services business on fraud prevention, said the service would also aid in identifying concealed relationships, all of which could be used by criminal networks.

NeoXam Provides GP4 Solution to French Fund Administrator

French fund administrator FB Fund Services will integrate financial software specialist NeoXam’s GP4 product to administer its investment valuation, accounting, reporting, and auditing processes.

The unit of private equity group 123 Investment Managers (123IM) will deploy GP4 to monitor bookkeeping in real time, improve workflow automation and seamlessly integrate key data sources, Paris-based NeoXam said in a statement.

GP4 is designed to streamline back-office operations and is managed by NeoXam on behalf of clients. Its integration by FB Fund Services is expected to “reduce the long-term total cost of ownership and risk of its data operations and maintenance”, the statement said.

NeoXam’s software and technology helps clients process more than US$20 trillion-worth of assets every day for its 15,000-plus users.

DSB Publishes Stakeholder Feedback Report on ISIN, CFI and UPI

The latest report making recommendations for standards for identifying, classifying and describing over-the-counter derivatives has been published by the body charged with bringing order to the naming of the securities.

The Derivatives Service Bureau (DSB) said its Industry Consultation Final Report summarises feedback from industry stakeholders on the OTC International Securities Identification Number (ISIN), the Classification Financial Instrument code (CFI) and the UPI service provision.

This year’s report, the DSB’s seventh on the topic, focuses on proposed automation enhancements, data leakage prevention and data labelling for the US$20 trillion-plus derivatives market.

·     DSB managing director Emma Kalliomaki will be among speakers at A-Team Group Data Management Insight’s next webinar on Thursday, which will take a deep dive into how financial institutions can optimise their use of identifiers and standards. Click here to register for the event.

AIA Group Adopts Investment Tech from BlackRock and BNY

AIA Group has incorporated BlackRock’s investment platform Aladdin with BNY’s data management services to administer the Asia-focused life insurer’s investment programme.

The move represents a transformation of the insurer’s end-to-end investment processes, echoing a broader trend towards the outsourcing of data management services by asset managers and owners.

The company said the collaboration with Aladdin and BNY “will provide AIA with an end-to-end solution, empowering the group’s investment professionals with enhanced data and analytics capability, and more robust risk management tools”.

Asset managers are increasingly seeking third-party expertise as the complexity of their data management requirements have intensified, according to recent surveys. This has been driven by the adoption of multi-asset investment strategies to navigate growing market volatility and to comply with emerging regulations.

AIA Group chief investment officer Mark Konyn said that the insurer “will gain a single, consistent, and timely view across all asset classes allowing us to make even more informed investments across complex market environments”.

Bridgewise Brings AI-Powered Analytics to ETFs, Fund Space

AI-powered investment analysis platform Bridgewise has launched a research platform it says will close the gap in exchange-traded fund (ETF) and mutual fund analyses.

The service will offer financial clients deep intel into ETF and fund performance, including that of their underlying assets, the company said. Bridgewise has deployed machine learning and micro-language models (MLMs) to enable detailed analysis of all aspects of the funds industry.

The company, which provides analyses to more than 50 financial institutions globally, said the new service has been developed amid growing demand for information on the ETF sector. Researcher ETFGI said inflows into ETFs climbed almost 11% in the past year to almost US$13 trillion.

The product launch coincided with the appointment of ETFGI founder and managing partner Deborah Fuhr to the Bridgewise advisory board.

Bridgewise co-founder and chief executive Gaby Diamant said the huge demand for insights into ETFs and mutual funds would be beyond the capabilities of traditional research processes.

“Until now, fund analysts have faced a daunting challenge – there is no way for a human to provide a detailed fundamental analysis on each and every asset in popular funds, especially when some funds are composed of thousands of individual stocks,” Diamant said “The time it would take to complete such an analysis would quickly stretch to a full year or more. Our AI technologies not only allow for a previously unobtainable level of depth of fund analysis, but also nearly universal coverage of funds.

”Within the platform, clients will be able to access holdings analysis, intel on alternatives such as private equity, buy-sell recommendations, category indicators and asset discovery features.

Alternatives Data Service Firm Canoe Raises $36m in New Funding

Canoe Intelligence has raised US$36 million in a Series C round to help the alternatives market technology company build out its artificial intelligence-supported fund master database services.

The fundraising was led by Growth Equity at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. F-Prime Capital and Eight Roads, which contributed to a previous cash injection last year, also joined the latest round.

Canoe Intelligence was launched in 2018 with the claim that it would be the first technology company in the world to transform unstructured data from alternative investment documents into standardised information that investors could integrate easily into their systems.

The New York-based company uses machine learning and other AI technology to scan publications and documents for use by its 325 clients, which comprise institutional investors, capital allocators, wealth managers, family offices and asset servicing firms. Alternatives, including private equity and credit markets, account for $22 trillion of assets worldwide, about 15% of all assets globally, and roughly a third of all institutional holdings.

“With the additional capital, we will continue to advance the alts industry by building innovative AI and machine learning technology, delivering comprehensive back-to-front office solutions, maintaining our commitment to data integrity and, most importantly, creating value for our clients,” said chief executive Jason Eiswerth.

Canoe Intelligence says that since its Series B funding round in February 2023 it has doubled growth in both the number of clients and revenue. It oversees the alternative data management needs of more than 1,000 limited partners across 650,000-plus commitments and subscriptions to in excess of 42,000 funds.

Delta Capita to Provide CLM to European Unit of Daiwa

Capital markets consulting, managed services and technology firm Delta Capita is to provide its client lifecycle management (CLM) product to investment bank Daiwa Capital Markets Europe.

The investment banking subsidiary of Japanese brokerage Daiwa Securities said Delta’s CLM will help its international clients gain exposure to the Asian nation’s markets at a time of growing demand.

The service offers full management of client onboarding, anti-money laundering, know your customer, risk assessment, screening, ongoing monitoring and periodic review cycles and offboarding.

Capita’s “experience in providing managed services, particularly in CLM, gives us great confidence that we can continue to respond the resurgence of European interest in Japan and continue to support our client base across the region”, said Daiwa Capital Markets Europe chief executive Megan McDonald.

Capita’s CLM was recently complemented with the London-based company’s recent acquisition of LSEG’s CLM technology in May. It works in conjunction with Capita’s Karbon KYC suite of tools.

The LSEG solution is based on Thomson Reuters’ 2013 acquisition of GoldTier Technologies, a provider of client onboarding software. Thomson Reuters Financial and Risk business, of which GoldTier was a part, was later rebranded Refinitiv under the majority ownership of Thomson Reuters and Blackstone, and the whole acquired by LSEG in 2021.