WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE), and risQ, a Boston-based start-up focused on geospatial climate, economic and demographic data, on Wednesday announced the launch of a new data service to help users understand and score the potential social impact of their investments.
'This is particularly the case in the municipal bond market, where proceeds are used to build public works, parks, schools, libraries and other infrastructure,' the company said in a statement.
The launch assumes significance as, with the broader adoption of ESG, a growing number of market participants want to understand the potential social impact of their investment.
The proposed data service leverages dozens of variables from multiple public data sources and peer-reviewed statistical methods to help quantify multiple dimensions of socioeconomic vulnerability and need and arrive at a score that will indicate the potential social benefit of an investment within a specific area.
Once calculated, the scores are planned to be mapped to ICE's U.S. municipal bond reference data, providing an additional metric for customers to use to evaluate an investment or a portfolio.
ICE closed Tuesday's trading at $119.59, down $0.38 or 0.32 percent from previous close.
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