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.

Sagard NewGen Enters into Exclusive Negotiations to Acquire Majority Stake in Horizon Software

Electronic trading solutions and algorithmic technology provider Horizon has announced that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with investment company Sagard NewGen, to acquire the majority stake of private equity firm Capza in the company.

Currently serving 70 clients in 26 countries, the Horizon trading platform targets the full needs of a trading floor including market making, agency trading and algorithmic trading. The change in funding aims to bring new capital streams, helping to finance Horizon’s growth strategy on a global scale and to support the adoption of new digital assets classes.

FNZ Partners with Clearstream to Launch Business Intelligence Solution for Asset Managers

FNZ, the global wealth management platform, has entered into a strategic partnership with Clearstream, Deutsche Börse Group’s post-trade services provider, aiming to significantly increase transparency for the UK & European asset management industry through the launch of a new business intelligence solution.

The new solution enabled by FNZ and Clearstream via its Fund Centre capabilities aims to provide asset managers with global and regional intelligence for analysing market trends, understanding behaviour, and improving decision making around fund distribution.

EU Moves Closer to Creation of Green Bonds

The European Union took a step closer to enabling the creation of verified green bonds when council members approved a list of requirements that issuers must satisfy to be granted EU Green Bond (EuGB) status. The council said its members had agreed that a registration system and supervisory framework for external reviewers should be created. The EU had proposed the creation of EuGBs in July, one of many aspects of the 27-nation bloc’s measures to draw private finance to achieving its sustainability goals.

Xignite Builds Broker, Wealth Manager ESG API into ESG Book

Market data distribution provider Xignite has built an API to funnel ESG information to brokers and wealth managers connected to the Arabesque-managed ESG Book. California-based Xignite’s ESG API is also hoped to accelerate the creation of ESG-based financial products, it said. “If you do not offer ESG data and portfolio analytics to your clients today, you will run into growth and retention challenges,” said Xignite Chief Executive Stéphane Duboi.

ESG Forward to Feed Data Information to Sustainability-Focused Clients

A sustainability-focused content and education platform has been created to help financial advisers satisfy their clients’ demands for impact investment products. ESG Forward will feed data, blog posts, infographics and other information to advisers. The service was created by Boston-based communication and marketing firm Longview Strategies.

Many Firms Are Not Data-Ready for SFDR Level 2

Many financial institutions have yet to grasp the data implications of the European Union’s ESG reporting regulations, while others are scrambling to put in place processes to comply with the developing set of disclosure rules. Read the full story on ESG Insight here.

EIU Unveils ESG Ratings Coverage of 150 Countries

The Economist Intelligence Unit has launched its own ESG Rating Service for investors and consumers, offering scores on 150 countries based on 90 sustainability indicators. The service gives country-level historic rankings back to 2015 and lays out quarterly analyses of key trends. The London-based information provider said the comparability of the ratings would help clients in their decision-making processes.