The Big Story: Can Singapore’s banks cut off the money behind the haze?

Singapore’s central bank is urging banks to review their ties with companies linked to transboundary haze, including limiting financing or cutting ties where there are clear breaches of environmental laws. This comes as research by the Forests & Finance Coalition links DBS, OCBC and UOB to about US$11 billion in historical financing to palm oil and pulp and paper companies.

How much responsibility should banks bear for the environmental practices of the companies they fund? And can financial pressure succeed where legal enforcement has struggled?

On The Big Story, Hongbin Jeong speaks with Kelvin Law, Associate Professor of Accounting with tenure at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, on whether Singapore’s sustainable-finance framework can turn banks’ environmental commitments into meaningful action.

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