The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) has launched ABS Environmental Risk Questionnaire (ERQ), the first industry-standard template that sets a consistent baseline for banks in Singapore to engage their corporate clients on environmental risk issues, gather data points, and identify opportunities to finance the transition to a low carbon economy.
An industry-standard questionnaire is one of the key deliverables of the Green Finance Industry Taskforce (GFIT) workstream on risk management to help the industry in embedding the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) Environmental Risk Management (ENRM) Guidelines. A workgroup comprising Citibank, DBS, HSBC, OCBC, Standard Chartered, and UOB, who are also GFIT members, developed the ERQ over several months, incorporating feedback from various stakeholders during the process.
The initiative will help establish a best practice for banks in Singapore to engage their clients in the assessment and mitigation of their environmental risks.
At the onset, the ERQ will apply to the following high-risk sectors, as identified by GFIT: agriculture and forestry/land use, construction/real estate, transportation and fuel, energy, including upstream, and industrial.
Goh Gek Choo, Executive Director, MAS, said, “Banks need reliable and comparable data to assess risks, identify opportunities, and enable the right actions when facilitating their customers’ transition to a sustainable future. The ABS ERQ is an important first step toward achieving this goal. As data needs evolve, continual industry effort will be needed to enhance the ERQ over time.”
