Risk Insight's ESG GPS tool is matching the spread of voluntary and mandatory disclosure on environmental and social aspects with a tool it says can help financial institutions understand risk exposure on the continent.

It rates more than 500 firms in Africa, including most large/mid and small capitalisation companies on a small group of African exchanges.

Risk Insight claims it became the first company to rate three major African stock exchanges, in South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya.

It plans this year to extend its coverage beyond the initial three countries to include Ghana and Mauritius.

The ESG GPS rating product was developed in 2017 and launched in 2020 "to ensure that the capital markets in Africa become conscious of climate risk and social transformation, and improve governance".

It applies computer technology to organise unstructured data from voluntary and mandatory reporting by listed companies to create a rating and disclosure tool for the African continent.

Risk Insight was established in 2009 and says its predictive risk management models have been used in banking for several years.