The ACA Compliance Group, a global provider of governance, risk, and compliance advisory services and technology solutions, has set up a new global environmental, social and governance (ESG) advisory practice to support its clients.
Clients will be provided with ESG advisory services to support the sustainable investment ecosystem.
ACA’s ESG practice underlines ACA’s investment and commitment to an area that is increasingly important to ACA’s global financial services clients and their investors.
The practice will be headed by ACA partner, Dan Mistler, who was recently a partner at ESG and environment firm, Bridge House Advisors, as well as founder of ESG specialist advisory firm, ESG Edge.
Crista DesRochers, a partner at ACA, focused on performance and GIPS compliance verification, and member of the CFA Institute ESG Verification Sub-Committee, will join Mistler to lead the practice.
Meanwhile, Dani Williams joins the team from ACA’s UK regulatory compliance practice to focus on ESG in financial regulation.
Williams brings 10 years of in-house and consulting experience to this role, having worked with investment managers providing compliance guidance in sustainability and green finance.
ACA highlights that sustainability and responsible investing increasingly appear on the agendas of global political leaders, regulators, and firms alike.
For example, in Europe, the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) will come into play on 10 March 2021, imposing new manager and product-level disclosure obligations related to ESG and sustainability.
ACA notes that research has also revealed that ESG investments funds hit $80.5 billion in the Q3 of 2020 pushing the total invested in these funds to over $1 trillion.
According to a poll taken at ACA’s Virtual Fall Conference, 63.5 per cent of respondents feel increased pressure from allocators on ESG and impact issues.
Additionally, the ESG sector grew steadily throughout the COVID-19 pandemic along with the number of investors turning to sustainable business models, which are considered better able to endure market shocks.
Mistler comments: “The ESG movement has gained significant momentum in recent years, with an uptick in investors across the board turning to their investment managers to plan out and achieve responsible investment goals.”
He adds: “By working with ACA, firms benefit from a trusted and experienced partner with an in-depth knowledge of the market, regulations, and sustainable investment. Our strong heritage of compliance expertise, as well as performance and verification, and cybersecurity, is perfectly placed to support firms with ESG across their entire investment lifecycle.”
Elsewhere in this space, Apex Group has launched Invest Check, a tool to help financial market participants collect the necessary data to report on and comply with the upcoming SFDR.
