SimCorp Adds Investment Accounting as a Service

SimCorp, a provider of Software-as-a-Service investment management solutions, has added Investment Accounting as a Service in response to increased demand from buy-side clients to outsource back-office functions.

The multi-asset class service is based on the SimCorp Dimension platform and is part of the company’s drive to become a technology-enabled services company. It will deliver timely, accurate and transparent multi-jurisdictional and regulatory compliant accounting, analytics and reporting, as well as an advisory overlay. It also provides interoperability and validates post-trade data, performs reconciliations, and ensures international accounting standards compliance.

KB Asset Management Singapore Selects SS&C to Power Operations

KB Asset Management Singapore, the asset management arm of Korea’s KB Financial Group, has selected SS&C Technologies’ front-to-back office solution for its operations. The solution includes SS&C’s fund administration and middle-office services, and integrates the Eze Investment Suite for order and portfolio management, compliance, and client reporting. The platform has been implemented to simplify operations across the asset managers’ portfolio that includes equities, contracts for difference, futures, FX and long/short strategies.

Avelacom Broadens Partnership with Singapore Exchange and Reduces Latencies

Low-latency connectivity and infrastructure provider Avelacom has broadened its partnership with Singapore Exchange (SGX), adding a colocation capability. Avelacom’s new server rack will be situated next to SGX’s core matching engine, providing round-trip network latency of less than 20 microseconds, which Avelacom claims is the fastest in the market. Avelacom has partnered with SGX since 2016. With its new colocation services, the company will provide enhanced infrastructure capabilities for trading on SGX, split into single-unit offerings to create a simple starting point for investors who are new to the Singapore markets.

ASEAN Draws Up First ESG Taxonomy Draft

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has published its first draft taxonomy for ESG reporting, saying the move was necessary as many of its member states were on the climate-risk frontline. The Jakarta, Indonesia-headquartered trade bloc said the proposal would introduce “a common language across ASEAN for financing sustainable economic activities”. A region-wide framework would have four environmental objectives and two “essential criteria” for the economy. The Version 1 iteration released on Wednesday also provides for an overlay that can be tweaked to suit individual member states. This initially focuses on six material sectors including agriculture, power supply, manufacturing and transportation.

EFRAG Names 71 Experts to Create Standards Proposals

The body charged with drafting sustainability reporting standards for the European Union’s regulators has put in place a team of 71 experts to begin the process. The European Financial Reporting Advisory Group (EFRAG) appointed experts from finance, academia, industry, NGOs and the small business sector. They will sit on 11 Expert Working Groups that have been tasked with hammering out a set of standards that can provide the underpinnings of the union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. EFRAG put out a call for potential members in August and said it had chosen the 71 from “very large number of high quality applications”.

SEC Reiterates it Has Powers to Prosecute Greenwashing

US financial watchdog the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has warned that it will come after companies who make false ESG claims or commit vital data in their disclosures. Division of Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal reminded a conference in Washington DC that rules that applied to the selling of financial products were also relevant to claims about sustainability. He cited recent examples in which the SEC brought cases against Fiat Chrysler and Pax World Management for greenwashing. “We will continue to apply long-standing, well-known and understood regulations and standards that govern the securities industry when investigating possible misconduct,” he said.

More Net-Zero Guidelines from UK Regulator, Institutions

The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has become the latest British financial overseer to issue proposed ESG guidelines. The regulator’s ESG Strategy details how it will monitor financial institutions’ management of climate-related risks. That coincided with the publication of a report by UK-based financial firms on how they can help bring about a decarbonised world. The Financing a Just Transition coalition of banks and investors issued its “Just Zero” report, which illustrates how City firms can help their workers, communities and suppliers cut their carbon footprints. Last week the London Stock Exchange unveiled its own guidance on what would constitute green and sustainability bonds, the first central bank to do so.

Industry Collaboration Adds LEI Datasets to Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative

A collaboration between the Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF), OS-Climate and Amazon has resulted in GLEIF’s real-time Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) datasets being made publicly available for the first time in the cloud via Amazon’s Sustainability Data Initiative (ASDI) data catalog. The move was driven by OS-Climate to allow easier integration of LEI data with its own datasets that support development of open data and open source analytics for climate risk management and climate aligned finance and investment. ASDI’s hosting capabilities simplify programmatic access to the LEI data, which is ingested by OS-Climate’s Data Commons platform, essentially an architecture for building, sharing, and running data and analytics services to evaluate climate finance risks and opportunities.

Moody’s Acquisition of Bogard Expands KYC Coverage for Politically Exposed Persons

Moody’s has acquired Bogard AB, a provider of data and information on politically exposed persons (PEPs) in the Nordic region. The acquisition advances Moody’s ability to help customers perform Know Your Customer (KYC) screening and research to address financial crime. Bogard covers over 17,000 PEPs, relatives, and close associates across Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland. Moody’s will integrate Bogard into its KYC business within Moody’s Analytics, and combine Bogard’s data with its existing PEP, sanction, and adverse media data. The transaction builds on Moody’s previous investments in KYC and anti-money laundering (AML) capabilities, and augments its Orbis company database and Grid database of adverse news, sanctions, and PEPs.

IBA Releases US Dollar SOFR ICE Swap Rate for Use as a Benchmark

Intercontinental Exchange’s (ICE) ICE Benchmark Administration (IBA) business has released its US dollar SOFR ICE Swap Rate for use as a benchmark in financial contracts and financial instruments by licensees. The release follows the successful publication of US dollar SOFR ICE Swap Rate settings on an indicative, ‘Beta’ basis since October 1, 2021, and is expected to support the US dollar non-linear derivatives market in its ongoing transition to SOFR. The US dollar SOFR ICE Swap Rate settings are available for the same tenors and published at the same  time as the current US dollar LIBOR ‘1100’ ICE Swap Rate benchmark.