Singapore unveils industry guidelines for sustainable private banking

The industry group sustainability taskforce has also developed a training benchmark.

The Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS) has launched the ABS Sustainable Private Banking and Wealth Management Guidelines aimed at guiding private banks to integrate sustainability in their businesses.

The guidelines, developed with technical input from the World Wide Fund for Nature Singapore, presents a baseline for sustainability practices to be integrated into private banks’ business models. It seeks to promote greater clarity and transparency amongst private bankers and their clients when it comes to sustainable investing, ABS said in a press release.

It covers private banking activities comprehensively, from wealth planning and investments to financing.

At the same time, the Private Banking Industry Group (PBIG) sustainability taskforce has also developed a common industry training benchmark for upskilling relationship managers in the area of sustainability. PBIG consulted the Institute of Banking and Finance Singapore (IBF) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in making the benchmark.

The PBIG Sustainability Taskforce studied the 12 IBF-MAS developed Sustainable Finance Technical Skills and Competencies (SF TSCs) and recommended four SF TSCs to be prioritized as critical and core to private banking relationship management job roles: Sustainable Investment Management; Carbon Markets and Decarbonisation Strategies Management; Non-Financial Industry Sustainability Developments; and Climate Change Management.