Telling the Story: The Proliferating Use of ESG and Other Nonfinancial Performance Metrics

In the latest summer issue of C-Suite Magazine, Director of Corporate Governance Services for Donnelley Financial Solutions (DFIN), Ron Schneider, writes an article on how to tell the story of the increasing use of ESG and other non-financial performance metrics.

Having an effective and credible ESG story has moved past the “nice to have” stage and has arguably become a near necessity.

Blocking the Path of Least Resistance

Darren Wray sits down with Cyber Protection Magazine to discuss personally identifiable information and DFIN helps companies mitigate risk by finding and securing sensitive information.

Business leaders increase risk by not placing more focus on governance and ESG reporting

While four in five (81%) business leaders in the UK and the US feel they are performing better than their industry’s average on ESG issues over the past two years, there is much less confidence around their organisations’ corporate governance. In contrast, less than 30% of executives feel confident they are outperforming their industry peers on governance issues, such as internal controls, lobbying and board composition.

PRIIPs KID implementation - are you ready?

The PRIIPs KID retail investor disclosure document is due to go live in the European Union for all UCITS funds on 1 January 2023. Automation will be more critical than ever for asset managers who produce high volumes of investor disclosures as they prepare for successful implementation.

Here are some of the key areas that asset managers will need to consider.

General Data Gathering

Compared with the UCITS KIID, the PRIIPs KID implementation comes with significant data-gathering overhead. PRIIPs manufacturers need to gather:

Embarking on Your ESG Journey - A Five-Step Engagement Process

Investors are largely united in pressing their portfolio companies to provide material, quantitative, decision-useful information on their environmental, social & governance (ESG) risks and opportunities.  And an increasing number of US companies are responding (including through information at their web-sites, fact sheets, and comprehensive reports).  Yet many other companies have been reticent to begin on this ESG disclosure journey. 

In the video above, hear a highlight the ESG corporate reporting entities research, which provides high-level advice on best practices around data management that can be applied across corporate reporting entities with Steven Wade, IR Magazine and John Truzzolino, Director of Corporate Governance Services at DFIN.

Guardum Recognized as a Top 5 GDPR Solution Provider in the UK by CIOReview

Guardum is now Data Protect Solutions.

CIOReview, a leading technology magazine and trustworthy knowledge source for enterprises, has determined Guardum and its Data Protect Solutions are at the forefront of providing GDPR solutions and transforming business. Many of the reasons for this selection were revealed in a related article and interview with Darren Wray, a security and data privacy expert at DFIN and former Data Protection Officer.

The article reveals:

Mergers and acquisitions move quickly, and it’s never been more critical to understand the intricacies and trends in M&A deal terms, a collection of important provisions negotiated in M&A transactions. Using eBrevia’s AI-powered contract analytics software, our M&A webinar panel analyzed hundreds of contracts for common M&A deal terms, such as Go Shop vs No Shop, Gold in Back Yard, MAE and Termination Fees.

Risk Disclosure and ESG

Actively-managed investors evaluate risks and opportunities before selecting stocks to add to their portfolios. Indexed or “passive” investors, who have been increasingly in size over the past decade, may not have the same opportunity as active managers to “pick and choose” which companies they will own, but once they find them owning them, they are keenly interested in understanding the risks and opportunities facing those companies, and are eager to eager to engage their portfolio companies on these issues in the course of their ongoing “stewardship” efforts.

Investment Companies 2022 Outlook

In recent years the FinTech industry has experienced significant changes on every front, from increased regulatory requirements to growing investor expectations. In this article, Eric Johnson, DFIN’s president of Global Investment Companies, addresses the top issues facing fund and asset companies heading into 2022.

At this time last year, the outlook for 2021 was heavily influenced by the global pandemic and how FinTech companies were pivoting to meet shifting needs. How did DFIN see that play out over the last 12 months?