Infront, the European market leader in financial market data solutions, is extending its partnership with Clarity AI, a technology platform leveraging machine learning and big data to deliver environmental and social insights that empower investors to measure the impact of their portfolios. In the renewed partnership, Infront will onboard the full suite of Clarity AI’s ESG data, increasing the data granularity it can offer its clients on one of the most pressing issues for both investment managers and their clients.

The current situation managers are facing is one where almost 80% of wealth management clients globally have sustainable investment goals and think their current managers can increase their efforts to understand them. A pressure that can only be met by managers who have control over ESG data and can provide their clients with clear information. This necessitates more data points and employing technology that screens, analyses, and benchmarks ESG capabilities essential to providing clients with bespoke investment mandates while also meeting regulatory disclosure requirements.

Infront’s extended partnership provides the required data and capabilities to effectively serve both clients and managers. The first partnership with Clarity AI, which was concluded in 2021, saw the firm integrate ESG risk scores for over 50,000 companies, 320,000 funds, and 400 governments into its display products. Three levels of data granularity were provided, with the current partnership adding SFDR Principle Adverse Impact, EU Taxonomy, and company Exposures for analysis and reporting -- all accessible and fully built-in to Infront's platform with delivery via API. This data comprehensiveness will also enable managers to more accurately fulfill sustainability disclosure obligations, which are a significant concern for investment managers. Another benefit: Portfolio Managers can integrate ESG data in the investment policies for their clients, ensuring that customers ESG profile is always reflected in investment decisions.

“We are very excited to extend our partnership with Clarity AI because it enables us to give wealth managers the tools and unrivalled coverage of data they need to make ESG tangible for their clients. This is especially important as clients are becoming more aware of Greenwashing and millennials, who are in line to inherit trillions of dollars, place sustainability very high on their priority list when it comes to investments,” said Zlatko Vucetic, CEO at Infront. “Firms that either cannot or will not provide detailed guidance here will lose clients to those who do. Clarity AI’s top-notch and independent research and data science abilities are focused on sustainability and their offerings seamlessly integrate into our platform’s workflow to create useful calculations on ESG metrics managers need to do this and comply with mounting ESG regulation.”

“We're thrilled to expand our relationship with Infront,” said Daniel Gonzalez, Head of Distribution Partnerships at Clarity AI. “The capabilities, data, and insights we were previously providing showed strong traction on the platform making the case that an even broader set be made accessible to all Infront's clients -- both wealth managers and asset managers.”