Our free roundup also covers Gresham hiring from SmartStream, data scientists at Liquidnet, and Capitolis’s new chief customer officer.
BlackRock Launches Climate Risk Add-On for Aladdin
Asset management giant BlackRock is targeting financial institutions and investors that want to quantify climate risk via their portfolios.
To help firms take on climate risk, BlackRock has launched the Aladdin Climate software application that analyzes climate risk and opportunities “at the security level,” and tracks policy changes, technology, and energy supply for specific investments, officials say.
The Aladdin Climate add-on is initially available for existing Aladdin clients globally with asset class coverage that will be rolled out gradually over 2021, according to BlackRock
The Aladdin Climate software measures “the physical risk of climate change and the transition risk to a low-carbon economy on portfolios with climate-adjusted security valuations and risk metrics,” according to BlackRock.
“There is no single issue that clients ask us more about than the impact of climate risk on their portfolio,” says Rob Goldstein, BlackRock’s chief operating officer (COO), in a prepared statement.
“Yet, while lots of people are talking about climate risk today, what investors need to make informed decisions is data tied to specific securities in their portfolio,” Goldstein adds.
“Aladdin Climate analyzes climate risk alongside traditional risk metrics for a holistic view of risk across the investment process, all integrated in existing Aladdin workflows,” says Mary-Catherine Lader, head of Aladdin Sustainability at BlackRock, in a statement.
In a related move, BlackRock has expanded access to environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) data via partnerships with data vendors Sustainalytics and Refinitiv, officials say.
“Aladdin now offers over 1,200 key performance indicators to help portfolio and risk managers identify sustainability-related risks in their exposures and make informed asset allocation decisions,” say BlackRock officials.
Gresham Tech Hires from SmartStream
Christian Schieb
Gresham Technologies plc has appointed Dr. Christian Schiebl as group business development director. Schiebl is the former chief operating officer (COO) of SmartStream Technologies and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Corona reconciliations business at the post-trade systems and solutions vendor.
Since exiting SmartStream in 2018, Schiebl has “focused on the application of artificial intelligence and machine-learning to post-trade operations working with financial institutions across Europe,” according to a Gresham statement.
FTF News conducted a video interview with Schiebl about Basel III compliance in 2017. Here is a link to the video chat: https://bit.ly/3fUhWc3
Liquidnet Grows Its Data Science Group
Steven Nichols
Liquidnet, an institutional investment and trading network, has named Steven Nichols to be its new head of NLP (natural language processing) and Unstructured Data.
Nichols joined Liquidnet via its 2019 acquisition of the NLP technology company Prattle, where he was a director of data science, according to Liquidnet’s statement.
Since joining, he has been “instrumental in the development of Liquidnet’s NLP capabilities and their integration into the Liquidnet Investment Analytics product suite, combining A.I. tools like machine learning and NLP with traditional and alternative data to help uncover the actionable insights hidden within data and content,” the vendor says.
In addition, the firm adds that it has hired three new data scientists.
The new hires, the vendor says, represent a “further investment in developing A.I.-centric tools designed to alert users to key factors influencing their investments.”
The newly added data scientists are Dr. Nicholas Burtch, Dr. Anthony Schramm, and Yusong Liu.
Liquidnet, founded in 1999, “has grown to include more than 1,000 institutional investors that collectively manage $33 trillion in equity and fixed income assets,” the vendor says, pointing out that its “network spans 45 markets across six continents,” connecting “institutional brokers, investment banks, exchanges, alternative trading venues, and … data and research providers.”
Capitolis Taps Oracle for Chief Customer Officer Post
Callie Richards
Fintech startup Capitolis, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform provider for capital markets, reports the appointment of Callie Reynolds as its chief customer officer.
In her new post, Reynolds will “develop the strategy and lead the team that delivers Capitolis’ core services to the company’s … customer base, with a strong focus on customer satisfaction/retention and growth in adoption.”
Reynolds joins Capitolis from database and software systems giant Oracle, where she was vice president of account management for Oracle’s data cloud division, according to the Capitolis statement.
Capitolis also notes that Reynolds joined Oracle through its 2017 acquisition of Moat, “an enterprise SaaS solution delivering analytics that measure viewability, attention, and brand safety across the digital advertising landscape.”
Capitolis spotlights its ability to aid firms in their efforts to “optimize their balance sheet exposures through collaborative technology by eliminating unnecessary positions and finding the most suitable party to hold the remaining positions. The company has eliminated $5 trillion in overall positions to date for more than 50 financial institutions, including many of the world’s largest banks, as well as leading hedge funds and asset managers.”
Capitolis was founded in 2017.
Need a Reprint?