Singapore banks, SGTraDex to develop standards for green trade finance digitalisation

UOB, DBS, OCBC, and Standard Chartered are participating in the initiative.

A consortium of four major commercial banks in Singapore and the Singapore Trade Data Exchange (SGTraDex) have collaborated to develop digital solutions for the application of clear, consistent green trade financing standards across industries.

The initiative aims to enable effective, data-driven decision-making around environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors so that banks can better support their clients’ green trade financing needs, according to the joint announcement. The initiative is conducted in partnership with the MAS Project Greenprint1 and will start in end-November.

UOB, a member of the ’s (MAS) Green Finance Industry Taskforce, leads this industry initiative with SGTraDex. Participating banks include DBS, OCBC Bank, and Standard Chartered. 

When completed, the initiative will reportedly create a transparent green trade financing data exchange model facilitated by SGTraDex infrastructure for banks to validate required green certification data residing within a centralised repository. This will allow banks to extend green trade financing to qualified supply chain players in the areas of production, trading or distribution through a more simplified process and in a timelier manner, the announcement said.