Latest updates in SPARK-Interfax system

SPARK integrates ESG indicators into its company rating system

To provide opportunities for the comparison of non-financial indicators, Interfax implemented a project for the straight-through processing of this reporting in partnership with the National ESG Alliance, agreeing with market participants on a set of 70 most popular indicators, and initiating a discussion on unified methodological approaches to their calculation and verification.

Interfax has been developing a set of solutions over several years that should ensure the availability of standardised ESG indicators for the widest possible range of companies. They should also ensure the uniformity and comparability of indicators, convenient and effective channels for disclosing this information, and should encourage enterprises to increase information transparency in this sphere.

Large companies were given the opportunity to post annual reports in their corporate cards on the CIDC ( Corporate Information Disclosure Center) website, and starting in 2024, they will also be able to do so on the portal of the Fedresurs system, which is operated by Interfax.

In partnership with the ESG Alliance, Interfax created a specialised public resource, esg-disclosure.ru in 2023, which makes it possible to analyse and compare the ESG indicators of approximately 600 large companies.

SPARK has also developed functionality that allows supply chain leaders to invite their counterparties to fill out a supplier's ESG questionnaire using automatic email distribution. For this purpose, the SPARK REGISTER platform has been operating since 2023, and it has already been used by thousands of medium and small enterprises for voluntary disclosure.

SPARK REGISTER is integrated with the SPARK system and allows companies who have gone through the identification and verification procedure to enter and update data on their activities including financial, and, more recently, non-financial indicators. This helps increase information transparency and facilitate the approval of loans and receipt of new orders.

This entire set of steps is designed to expand the range of companies for which standardised ESG data is available and create additional incentives for businesses to disclose their sustainability reports.

New risk factors and factors requiring attention

• New factor? - “There is a message about filing an application/bringing an individual to subsidiary liability.”

This factor will appear in the company’s card in the “Factors requiring attention” block if the current co-owner-individual according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities or the current head of the company is brought to subsidiary liability (or there is an application for holding to subsidiary liability). When you click on this factor, a list opens that includes the full names of individuals, their roles in the company and the mark “Involved” or “Application submitted.”

This factor will appear in the “Factors requiring attention” block if the following conditions are met:?

1. the company has tax debts for the last loaded period
2. the company has information about income according to the Federal Tax Service?
3. tax debt to income ratio is more than 1%

• The section on Convertible loans was added.?

A convertible loan agreement is a type of loan agreement that is entered into between a company and an investor. The agreement provides for the right of the investor, upon the occurrence of certain circumstances, to demand either the return of invested funds or the conversion of these funds into shares or a share of the company. The investor card in this section contains links to companies with which convertible loan agreements have been concluded

• New factor - “There is information about a convertible loan agreement.”

This factor will appear in the "Factors requiring attention" block if there are convertible loan agreements in relation to this company.

• The Taxes section has been improved.

In the “Debts on taxes and fees” block, a line with the amount of debt for the last period loaded into the database is displayed. If for the last loaded period there is no information about the debt of the current company, then there is the phrase that there is no information about the debt.

• In the “Bankruptcy Messages” section, the “Subsidiary Liability” tab has appeared in the cards of companies and individuals, which displays all messages about bringing companies or individuals to subsidiary liability.

Contact SPARK-Interfax to help you with due diligence and risk assessment in the region.