At
the
Morningstar
Investment
Conference
on
May
1,
two
fintech
companies
were
able
to
showcase
their
wealth
management
solutions.

Propelle,
the
female
focused
investment
platform
helping
to
build
a
community
for
women
who
want
to
learn
about
investment,
was
one
of
the
winners
of
the
PIMFA
WealthTech
and
Morningstar
ESG
challenge
held
last
month.

Propelle
was
set
up
by
Ayesha
Ofori,
a
former
Goldman
Sachs’
private
wealth
advisor
who
worked
for
many
years
helping
ultra-high
net
worth
individuals.

“I
used
to
work
at
Goldman
Sachs
and
our
clients
were
incredibly
rich,
predominantly
white
men.
And
it
sort
of
occurred
to
me
one
day
that
in
the
grand
scheme
of
things,
how
are
we
actually
making
a
difference?
How
are
we
helping
society,
the
masses,
by
making
the
wealthy
wealthier?,”
she
tells
Morningstar
UK.

“I
felt
that
if
I
could
help
people
who
needed
to
build
wealth,
then
it
would
align
with
my
values
and
purpose.
And
it
was
obvious
to
me
that
there
was
a
need
to
focus
on
women
because
across
the
investment
management
industry,
women
have
been
effectively
left
behind.”

Ofori
points
to
the
gender
investment
gap
and
the
pension
gender
gap.
The
numbers
emphasised
that
women
were
not
investing
enough
to
build
a
future
for
themselves
and
their
families.

“That’s
the
whole
mission
behind
Propelle,
it
is
to
financially
empower
women,
to
help
them
build
the
confidence
and
the
knowledge
to
be
able
to
invest
on
a
regular
basis
and
to
build
long
term
sustainable
wealth.

As
well
as
allowing
women
to
open
ISAs
and
to
choose
from
a
selection
of
Vanguard
funds
on
the
platform,
women
on
Propelle
can
access
an
ESG
offering
too.

“Either
they
can
choose
a
pure
sort
of
diversified
ESG
fund,
or
they
will
be
able
to
choose
various
different
layers
that
they
can
add
on.
For
instance,
there
may
be
a
climate
layer,
or
a
carbon
neutral
layer.
So
it’s
not
just
about
investing
to
make
money,
it
is
also
about
trying
to
make
a
positive
difference
in
the
world
as
well,”
she
says.


Using
AI
for
ESG 

Propelle
shared
the
top
spot
in
the
ESG
challenge
with
KnowYourFunds,
the
fintech
group
using
artificial
intelligence
to
ensure
that
ESG
and
sustainable
finance
data
are
integrated
seamlessly
into
how
fund
firms
operate.

Simon
Prest,
the
co-founder
of
KnowYourFunds,
believes
that
the
platform
can
help
create
a
service
for
fund
groups
who
want
to
avoid
greenwashing,
as
mounting
pressure
from
the
FCA
calls
on
funds
to
be
transparent
and
adhere
to
the
SDRs.

“There
is
a
need
for
a
scalable
technological
solutions
as
opposed
to
what
we
found
out,
which
is
a
lot
of
people
are
doing
stuff
manually.
And
obviously
they
cannot
do
that
on
an
ongoing
basis.
Its
periodic
and
a
lot
of
things
slip
through
the
net,”
Prest
said.

“We
have
tried
to
come
up
with
a
technological
solution
that
is
continuous,
more
complete
and
allows
people
to
be
able
to
interrogate
their
investments,
to
make
sure
that
they
are
doing
what
they
say
they
are
doing
and
to
alert
them
as
early
as
often
in
the
cases
where
they
are
not
so
that
can
do
something
about
it.”

KnowYourFunds
is
a
cloud-based
product
with
numerous
engines
which
enable
the
platform
to
interrogate
externally
managed
funds
and
fund-of-fund
structures.

Prest,
who
was
a
former
corporate
bond
and
credit
derivatives
trader,
does
not
come
from
an
ESG
background,
but
with
his
co-founders,
he
was
able
to
identify
the
challenges
investors
would
face
to
apply
ESG
data
consistently
and
effectively
to
their
investment
processes.

“[Its
like]
a
levelling
up
tool
in
a
way,
you
know
smaller
asset
managers
and
asset
owners
do
not
have
the
resources
to
hire
a
team
of
dedicated
ESG
analysts.
So,
we
are
levelling
up
from
that
respect,
but
then
the
more
we
delved
into
this,
we
found
that
even
the
largest
institutions
do
not
necessarily
have
the
technological
solutions.”

For
Prest,
the
FCA
wants
the
investment
industry
to
look
at
ESG
risk
as
any
other
risk
like 
foreign
exchange
or
credit
risk.
But
systems
have
not
kept
pace
with
the
rate
of
change.
He
feels
that
KnowYourFunds
is
the
solution
to
ensure
that
asset
managers
are
adapting
to
the
new
regulatory
landscape.

“Irrespective
of
what
you
think
about
sustainability
and
ESG.
The
regulatory
environment
that
everyone
is
operating
in
is
now
that
it
has
to
be
overseen
and
if
you
are
making
claims
about
it
you
have
to
be
able
to
substantiate
them.”

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