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Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) & CTBC Partner for ESG Indices

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Intercontinental Exchange, Inc.’s (ICE - Free Report) ICE Data Services has teamed up with CTBC Investments Co., Ltd. (CTBC Investments) in a bid to develop environmental, social and governance (ESG) indices, as well as financial products for market participants.

ICE Data Services is a global leader in market data, analytics and connectivity solutions. The company has a range of ESG data and tools that assist it to gain transparency in the impact of key ESG issues, uncover opportunities, as well as manage risk.

ICE has introduced two new ESG bond indices, the ICE 15+ Year Large Cap USD Emerging Markets External Sovereign Carbon Reduction Index and ICE 15+ Year Ultra Large Cap Developed Markets US Corporate Best-in-Class ESG Index. These new indices are administered by ICE Data Indices, LLC.

IDI is a leading provider of indices across all major asset classes with more than 50 years of experience and provides high-quality solutions. IDI also offers calculation services, analytics and customized solutions to help address the demands of a changing investment landscape.

CTBC Investments is the third-largest asset management company in Taiwan in terms of assets under management in bond ETFs. It provides various investment strategies that serve its clients. In order to expand operations, it purchased a 98.6% stake in Trustwell Securities Investment Trust Co. in November 2012, and acquired the remaining 1.4% in June 2013, becoming the sole stakeholder with 100% stake.

CTBC Investments is set to launch ETF products that will use the two new ESG bond indices, which have been recognized through CTBC Investments’ efforts by the Taipei Exchange, as their underlying benchmarks.

According to a recent Bank of America (BofA) research, an investment strategy focused on buying stocks that rank well on ESG metrics could outperform the market by up to 3 percentage points per year over the last five years.

Also, as ESG investing moves from niche to norm, it’s estimated that $20 trillion of asset growth will occur in ESG funds over the next two decades and hence, this will increase investors’ interest.

Intercontinental Exchange offers a range of data services globally for financial and commodity markets, including pricing and reference data, as well as index services. Solid index businesses and persistent growth in pricing and reference data business have contributed to the company’s revenue growth over the past years.

The security exchange distributes many of today’s leading indices and benchmarks across fixed income, equity, commodity and currency markets. ICE Data Indices, which includes the ICE BofA indices, is the benchmark provider for more than $1 trillion in fund assets and is second largest in benchmarked assets under management, or AUM, for fixed income funds.
ICE Data Indices administers, calculates or publishes nearly 40 ESG-related indices, thereby providing investors with tools to pursue sustainable finance opportunities.

This transaction with ICE Data Services will also assist CTBC Investments in offering ESG products and solutions to customers. This in turn will boost people’s awareness for ESG investing and enable CTBC Investments to join the Principles of Responsible Investment.

Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) player have gained 13.1% in the past year, outperforming the industry’s 3.7% growth.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked insurance stocks include MarketAxess Holdings (MKTX - Free Report) , OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCM - Free Report) and Evertec (EVTC - Free Report) , each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

MarketAxess surpassed earnings estimates in each of the last four quarters. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 2.71%, on average.

OTC Markets surpassed bottom-line estimates in three of the last four quarters. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 11.96%, on average.

Evertec surpassed earnings estimates in three of the last four quarters. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 17.87%, on average

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