Lion Group Expands Into Carbon Trading and Financing

Lion Group Holding Company is expanding into carbon trading and financing.

The firm will add these green digital finance sector offerings to its current products, which include an all-in-one trading platform as well as initiatives around special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) sponsorships, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and the metaverse, Lion said in a Friday (Feb. 24) press release.

“Lion has stepped into the field of carbon finance,” Lion Group CEO Wang Chunning (Wilson) said in the release. “This is a key step in our global corporate strategy to maintain our competitiveness in the global marketplace. I believe a differentiated green sustainable development strategy will greatly enhance competencies in all areas of our core business and we will be poised to take advantage of key [environmental, social and governance (ESG)] value creation opportunities.”

Digital tools have been launched to cover different aspects of the green economy.

For example, providers of regulatory technology (RegTech), often the very same companies that help financial institutions manage their compliance procedures, also have a set of tools that can be applied to the challenge of fossil fuel disclosure.

This helps ESG funds guarantee that money isn’t being used to finance the fossil fuel industry.

In a similar vein, a growing number of European banks are adding features to their mobile banking apps that allow users to monitor the carbon emissions their spending generates.

With FIs around the world committing to targets to achieve net-zero carbon dioxide emissions, technologies such as in-app carbon trackers are powerful weapons in the fight against climate change.

In the case of Lion, the firm will expand its digital financial ecosystem business by deploying technological innovation and digital services in the carbon finance field, according to the press release.

The global carbon market’s total transaction volume has grown for six straight years and reached a record 865 billion euros (about $912 billion) in 2022, the release said, citing figures from Refinitiv.

“Being a global service provider committed to full compliance, coupled with Lion’s existing core competencies in financial and Web3.0 technology, paves a strong foundation on which to build Lion’s digital carbon trading business,” Wang said in the release. “With the building out and expansion of our digital carbon finance business, we will have huge development potential when it comes to the provision of carbon financial services for the carbon markets as well as driving the growth of carbon finance-related derivative products.”

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