Financial services provider Apex Group announced today the launch of Invest Check, a new offering aimed at helping financial market participants collect the necessary data to report on and comply with the upcoming EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (EU SFDR).

The EU SFDR forms part of the EU’s Action Plan on financing sustainable growth. The regulation establishes harmonised rules for financial market participants including investors and advisers on transparency regarding the integration of sustainability risks and the consideration of adverse sustainability impacts in their processes and the provision of sustainability‐related information with respect to financial products. The new regulations will require financial market participants and asset owners to provide disclosures including the manner in which sustainability risks are integrated into their investment decisions, and assessments of the likely impacts of sustainability risks on the returns of financial products.

The regulation will go into effect on March 10, 2021.

According to Apex, Invest Check will help prepare for and comply with upcoming the regulation, providing an evaluation of an asset manager’s sustainability strategy at both manager and product level, tracking performance and identifying key gaps against an ESG data set based on regulatory standards. The tool presents the data in an easy to use format that mirrors the SFDR template, streamlining the submission process for managers.

Apex stated that Invest Check is underpinned by the company’s proprietary software and simplifies the process of regulatory alignment through robust data collection, benchmarked against best-in-class international regulations and standards defined by EU SFDR, TCFD, UNPRI and more.

Andy Pitts-Tucker, Managing Director of Apex ESG Ratings & Advisory comments:

“The regulatory imperative to monitor, disclose and improve ESG data is already a reality for many, with the EU SFDR legislation looming large. We are excited to launch Invest Check and see it as a potential catalyst for behavioural change in the investment process by delivering ESG data in an efficient and usable format for asset managers.”