Element 22, a leading consultancy committed to modernising data and analytics within financial services, and Agility Sciences, the specialist distributed ledger developer and creator of the Activeledger DLT, have launched ESGi, an innovative technology solution sourcing attested, trusted ESG data for the investment industry.
Initially, the solution will enable fund managers to source the mandatory ESG data needed to comply with the imminent Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), the European Union’s harmonised rules on sustainability‐related disclosures to end investors.
In due course additional functionality will be incorporated into the solution to help firms comply with further regulations, both within and outside the EU.
In addition, ESGi can be used to support an increasing number of use cases for ESG data beyond regulatory compliance, such as portfolio construction and monitoring.
ESGi has been developed as an authoritative source using Agility Sciences’ permissioned distributed ledger platform, ActiveLedger, which ensures a tamper proof, immutable and interoperable solution that uses a fraction of the energy of public blockchains. ESG data is requested, published, challenged and attested in real time, with transparent business rules applied across the data.
Commenting on the launch of ESGi, Mark Davies, partner at Element22, said, “We have extensive experience in building solutions that can simplify complex data challenges for the financial services industry. We will apply this experience to ESGi as we help our buy-side clients to comply with SFDR and future ESG-related regulations. By using ESGi, our clients will be able to not only meet their disclosure requirements but more easily satisfy the demands of their internal teams who require access to ESG data for many other business purposes including financial product creation, in an increasingly competitive investment management landscape.”
Adding to this, Martyn Walker, CEO of Agility Sciences, said, “We are excited to be launching ESGi in partnership with Element22. The combination of their industry experience and our technology expertise delivers unparalleled benefits to the investment management community. We look forward to working with asset managers in support of their efforts to comply with SFDR and future ESG-related regulations.”
The news of ESGi’s launch follows shortly after the Investment Association (IA) revealed its latest cohort of high potential fintech firms, which included ESGi, to join its IA Engine Innovator Programme, the IA’s specialist FinTech accelerator and innovation hub for the investment management industry. Following a thorough selection process, firms were chosen by the IA’s Engine Advisory Panel for their innovative solutions, focused on enhancing business efficiency and the customer experience across investment management.