State Street to promote ESG standards through new deal

State Street to deploy advanced technology to meet governance challenges.
By John Bakie

State Street has teamed up with a provider of artificial intelligence-driven environmental, social and governance (ESG) data to promote industry standards for the ethical method of investing.

The custodian bank announced the deal with TruValue Labs to promote the standards according to the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) framework.

According to a recent study of both retail and institutional investors from State Street’s, 60% of respondents noted a lack of industry standards for measuring ESG performance as a significant barrier to full integration.

“Successful ESG investing is not possible without full data transparency into companies’ non-financial factors,” said John Plansky, global head of State Street Global Exchange.

“State Street is committed to delivering timely and consistent ESG data and insights to our clients. This partnership with TruValue Labs is the next step in helping investors factor sustainability-related impacts when making decisions.”

State Street and TruValue Labs also plan to collaborate on research and the development of new products to provide investors with the tools they need to further integrate key sustainability insights into their decision making processes. 

“Sustainability issues impact financial performance in specific ways that vary by topic and industry,” said SASB Director of Capital Markets Policy & Outreach Janine Guillot.

Global Custodian’s feature For the greater good – published in 2016 – shows how custodians are working with asset owners to screen and provide data on companies and investments across the world. You can read the full feature here.

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