Industrial Thought invests £100,000 in Integrum ESG

Industrial Thought invests £100K in Integrum ESG to help wealth managers manage greenwashing risks. Find out how this partnership is changing the future of sustainable investing

London, England, April 4, 2024: Industrial Thought Ltd - a group of companies specializing in investment taxation, financial data and related advisory services - has announced a £100,000 investment in Integrum ESG, with the possibility of a follow-on investment, along with a partnership agreement to support the wealth management industry with ESG data. The SaaS platform offers a 'glass box' approach to ESG analysis and risk assessment, providing wealth managers with a simple way to collect validated and explainable ESG data.

Challenges in the wealth management industry

Wealth managers are now facing regulatory pressure to take into account the sustainability preferences of their clients, as well as demand from clients to receive a sustainability rating in their regular investment reports.

Shai Hill, Founder and CEO of Integrum ESG

A growing number of investors want ESG-friendly portfolios that align with their personal values, which creates challenges for the wealth management industry. As the majority of ESG ratings are generated using black box models, wealth managers are finding it difficult to justify their recommendations to clients. This comes at a time when this is more important than ever, as the FCA's new anti-greenwashing rules increase regulatory pressure to provide interpretable information on sustainable investment products.

Trust and transparency are crucial if we are to realize the full potential of ESG investing.

Nuno Godinho, Group CEO of Industrial Thought Ltd

Integrum ESG has been developed by investment professionals to solve the problems associated with opaque methodologies and provide complete clarity. The user-friendly platform provides clear justifications for its ESG ratings with full insight into the underlying data. As a result, wealth managers can understand and explain a company's ESG challenges and how it overcomes these challenges in the market. Other unique features include customized reporting solutions and real-time controversy alerts.

Today's news of Industrial Thought's investment in specialist ESG platform Integrum ESG is particularly exciting, especially in the context of our coverage of the recent study on greenwashing by new green company names. Yesterday we reported on research by the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research (SAFE), led by Carmelo Latino, which suggests that such name changes could be a form of greenwashing.