Intelligent Automation Makes ESG Score Screening Faster for Financial Assets

A Case of How We Simplified ESG Scores Extraction and Approval with Power Apps and Power Automate.

The Client

The client specializes in delivering premium investment strategies, covering fixed income, alternative assets, equities, and more. Based in Los Angeles, they operate globally with key offices in New York, London, and Tokyo. Their expertise lies in trend-driven investments, particularly in trends like energy transformation, allowing them to serve corporates through managed accounts, funds, and ETFs.

Challenges Faced by the Client

ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) scores help investors assess a company’s ethical and sustainability performance beyond traditional financial metrics.

• Environmental: How does the company impact the environment?
• Social: How does the company treat employees, customers, and society?
• Governance: How is the company managed? Are its policies ethical and transparent?

A High ESG score indicates a responsible and well-managed company, making it a safer investment. Conversely, companies with low ESG scores face reputational damage, regulatory issues, and/or financial instability. Our client required these scores to make informed investment decisions, helping analysts determine whether to buy, hold, or sell a stock.

However, obtaining these scores was tedious. Analysts had to manually extract them from Sustainalytics (a well-known rating agency that provides ESG scores for companies) and record them in a spreadsheet, as the information was not readily available. So, each company’s data had to be retrieved manually.

Although this method provided the necessary data, it was inefficient:

1. Time-Consumption: Since analysts had to check hundreds of companies individually, it took hours to gather the required information.
2. Human Errors: Copying and pasting data manually increases the risk of mistakes, such as missing numbers or entering incorrect values.

To streamline this, we built a solution using Power Automate that automatically collects ESG scores in bulk and organizes them in SharePoint. This removed the need for analysts to manually extract data one by one.

Once the scores are collected, analysts use detailed calculations and decide whether an investment is worthwhile. But before taking the decision, the findings must be reviewed and approved by their superiors, and this step had its issues:

• A company’s ESG score is linked to its Ticker (a unique stock symbol to identify publicly traded companies). Analysts had to manually match tickers with ESG scores, making tracking difficult and slowing decision-making.
• Financial analysts had to send individual reports to superiors for approval, causing delays.
• Since emails were used to request approvals, superiors had to check numbers manually, increasing the chance of errors.
• With different analysts submitting reports in unique styles, superiors received information in various formats, making it harder to compare and verify data.
• Without a standard tracker, analysts struggled to follow up on approvals, leading to miscommunication and missed time-sensitive investment opportunities.

Solutions

We identified that the root problem was the lack of a centralized system to manage ESG data collection and approvals. To fix this, we built a Dashboard using Power Apps and Power Automate. Here is how it works:

• • All ESG scores are displayed in an easy-to-read format. Now, both analysts and their superiors have a single source of truth.
  • Analysts can submit calculations through the dashboard, while the superiors receive real-time notifications via email or MS Teams. They can approve or reject requests instantly.
  • Since the dashboard is integrated with Power Automate, it extracts ESG scores directly from Sustainalytics and populates them for specific company tickers. This way, the analysts can view and edit fields, such as comments or adjustments, before final submission.
  • All reports from here on will follow a standardized format, ensuring consistency and eliminating discrepancies.

Solutions Benefits

• Faster Data Collection: Automating ESG score extraction significantly reduced the time needed to gather information.
• Centralized Data Aggregation: All ESG-related information is now in one place, making it easier to access, analyze, and use.
• Instant Approvals: Approval takes less than a second; superiors can simply click “Approve” or “Reject” either via Email or Teams.
• Reduced Waiting Time: The automated workflow shortened the TAT between request submission and approval, enabling analysts to act on ESG insights faster.
• Satisfied Stakeholders: Our dashboard promises more timely reporting, leading to higher stakeholder satisfaction and profitable investment opportunities.

Conclusion

About Us

UB Technology Innovations, Inc. (UBTI) is a leading global technology solution provider with over 3 decades of experience across all industries, specializing in Capital Markets, Logistics, and Healthcare. We are the preferred Microsoft Solutions Partner backed by a world-class team of Microsoft Certified experts with rich experience in Azure Cloud Platform and Data Analytics.

One of the Top 10 winners of the
Microsoft’s Azure AI & ML Workathon