Qontigo extends sustainability offering to portfolio construction and analytics tools

NEW YORK, Jan. 11, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Qontigo, a leading provider of innovative risk, analytics and index solutions has made available ISS ESG, Clarity AI and Sustainalytics data within its financial optimizer, Axioma Portfolio Optimizer (APO). Sustainalytics will also be integrated into Axioma Portfolio Analytics (APA) for performance attribution and reporting as well as Axioma Risk Model Machine (RMM), which allows users to create custom risk models.

With this direct integration into Axioma portfolio construction tools, asset managers, wealth managers and asset owners will be able to construct portfolios actively tilting towards a combination of ESG attributes; identify point-in-time ESG exposures; create desired hedges; develop custom risk models that explain risk and return; and run performance attribution based on ESG attributes.

Using its proprietary Risk Entity Framework, Qontigo is able to consolidate and normalize sustainability-linked content from multiple sources, ensuring consistency across multiple asset classes.

"We know that there's a great need for sustainability to inform the investment process and so it's important for us to offer clients a breadth of best-in-class content," said Chris Sturhahn, Chief Product Officer for Analytics at Qontigo. "Clients running strategies with ESG-linked goals – from climate to impact – may already be working with a number of vendors, but they can now benefit from more seamless data integration with leading analytics tools for portfolio construction, risk and reporting, which could result in lower total cost of ownership."

The forthcoming introduction of sustainability content into Axioma multi-asset class, cloud-native offerings will enable investment managers to also manage their portfolios with respect to a wide spectrum of sustainability-linked investment targets, as well as generate output that helps with sustainability-linked management, investor and regulatory requirements.

"We are pleased to offer our market-leading ESG data through the Axioma Portfolio Optimizer, initially starting with a focus on climate and encompassing emissions data, physical and transitional risk metrics, and scenario data across approximately 28,000 issuers," said Dr. Maximilian Horster, Head of ISS ESG, the responsible investment arm of Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. "We are excited by the opportunities this partnership affords mutual clients to access class-leading ESG and risk management solutions through an integrated channel."

"One dimension of bringing societal impact to markets is providing broad, granular and transparent ESG Risk and SDG Impact analysis, and we are excited to bring that to Qontigo and its clients," said Rebeca Minguela, Founder & CEO of Clarity AI, the global, leading sustainability tech platform. "Instead of applying analysts' subjective assessments, we leverage science-based methodologies and proprietary machine learning to deliver reliable and objective data at scale with exceptionally broad coverage. As a digital-native provider, we lead the industry in offering a comprehensive range of SaaS solutions for sustainability assessment, and integrating into Axioma Portfolio Optimizer creates the opportunity for us to illuminate paths to a more sustainable world for an even wider base of clients."

"Sustainalytics is delighted to provide Qontigo's clients with our diverse range of ESG risk and compliance solutions," said Shila Wattamwar, Global Head of Strategic Partnerships at Sustainalytics. "With ESG issues becoming a more central part of the investment decision-making process, investors can now more easily show the ESG risk attributes of their portfolios and report on them by leveraging Sustainalytics' rich ESG solutions in Qontigo's risk and analytics environment. We look forward to building on the success of our relationship with Qontigo and expanding our partnership."

Users of APO, APA and RMM will be able to access:

• ISS ESG Daily Multi-Attribute files covering 2 modules across more than 28,000 entities: Climate Core and Climate Impact
• Clarity AI ESG Risk ratings as well as SDG Impact metrics, with coverage that extends across 30,000 companies, 135,000 funds, 198 countries and 187 local governments
• Sustainalytics Daily Multi-Attribute files covering 7 modules across more than 25,000 entities: ESG Risk Ratings, Product involvement, Controversial Weapons, Global Standards Screening, Corporate Governance and Controversies

Qontigo currently uses ISS ESG and Sustainalytics datasets for the construction of STOXX and DAX indices.

SOURCE Qontigo