Green And Sustainable Financing

Benjamin Soh of STACS on green and sustainable financing, his entrepreneurial journey, and the importance of empowering team members in ways they may not expect.

- Alfonso Pereira

Benjamin Soh, co-founder and MD of STACS, a Singapore-based FinTech firm founded by capital market veterans, shares that there is a shift happening in banking; a change that is leaning towards Environmental, Social, and (Corporate) Governance. While promising, he admits that this ongoing transition is no walk in the park as there are growing pains expected along the way.

There are also many questions that need to be asked, he reveals. “When you make a green trade or investment, how can you be sure that your money is being used for the sustainable purposes claimed? How can you be sure a financial product is at net zero carbon? How can banks and financial institutions reassure regulators and their own shareholders that they are making a positive contribution to an ESGdriven future economy?”

These are the questions being wrestled with as global ESG assets are on track to reach $53 trillion by 2025, based on an analysis by Bloomberg, representing more than a third of the $140.5 trillion in projected total assets under management.”

How is STACS ‘green fintech’ making banks pursue environmental sustainability and accountability goals?

This is an area at STACS that we are very passionate about — helping solve for the financial system through distributed ledger technology (DLT).

Banks are realising the need to support legitimate green and sustainable financing and to monitor the commitment of these projects and organisations in the ESG space. Currently, however, less than 0.3 per cent of all bond financing is green, with insufficient efforts leading to a US$2.6 trillion annual funding deficit towards achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.