United Kingdom and Singapore have agreed to enhance cooperation in sustainable finance and FinTech.
HM Treasury and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a joint statement on Thursday both countries have agreed to contribute to efforts to develop global regulatory standards for crypto and digital assets as part of international standard setting bodies such as IOSCO, and working groups under the Financial Stability Board (FSB).
They also welcomed the FSB recommendations on crypto-assets including stablecoins.
Both countries also agreed to consider future collaboration opportunities in project guardian.
According to the statement, the United Kingdom and Singapore also agreed on the urgent need to develop approaches that facilitate and scale financing to support the transition of economies to net zero.
The two countries agreed that globally comparable and transparent transition plans that include credible forward-looking information can help reduce fragmentation, scale transition finance, and support sustainability in finance more generally.
Both countries recognized the value of increased cooperation on transition plans to mobilize real economy emission reductions.
In Singapore, the focus is on scaling blended finance and addressing energy transition needs in Asia, MAS’ Finance for Net Zero Action Plan (FiNZ Action Plan) and initiatives to mobilize green and transition financing to catalyze Asia’s net zero transition.
As for the United Kingdom, its Transition Plan Taskforce’s (TPT) work is to finalize its disclosure framework and the TPT’s international engagement with governments and regulators on the international applicability of the framework alongside the International Sustainability Standards Board’s (ISSB) final standards.
According to the statement, the United Kingdom and Singapore also re-affirmed their continued support for a global framework of sustainability disclosures based on the ISSB final standards for general reporting on sustainability and for climate-related disclosures.
Both countries are committed to implementing globally interoperable sustainability disclosures.
Both sides also welcomed the International Organization of Securities Commissions’ (IOSCO) endorsement of the ISSB’s standards.
It was recognized that a global framework for transition and sustainability disclosure standards is necessary to promote a simple, consistent, and effective regulatory environment for firms, regulators, and financial authorities.
Both the United Kingdom and Singapore have agreed to support the ISSB in implementing the standards and reaching its goal of achieving globally interoperable disclosure standards by, for example, supporting capacity building efforts and sharing experiences.
They also agreed to explore how to deepen bilateral cooperation and promote global coordination and common expectations.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom and Singapore re-affirmed the need to deepen the understanding of nature and biodiversity loss and its impact on the financial sector.
Both countries welcomed an upcoming joint research project on nature-related financial risks in Southeast Asia involving the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) and the Singapore Green Finance Centre, which is co-managed by Imperial College Business School and Singapore Management University (SMU).
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