As part of our efforts to foster good investor stewardship in Singapore, IMAS strongly supports the adoption of the Singapore Stewardship Principles (SSP) for Responsible Investors launched in 2016 by the SSP Steering Committee, which IMAS is a founding member of. The Singapore Steward Principles (SSP) for Responsible Investors are intended to enhance a positive investment environment by encouraging companies to pursue the spirit of good governance and stewardship, with the ultimate objective of helping companies secure their performance over the long term. The application of responsible stewardship is important to all successful long-term investment processes.
With shifting investor preferences for sustainable investing necessitating a focus on ESG matters, IMAS has collaborated with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and committed to provide strategic guidance to the Asia Sustainable Finance Initiative (ASFI) Advisory Group, so as to ensure that their future initiatives are aligned with broader goals of the investment management industry. IMAS joined the ASFI Advisory Group in 2019, which aims to bring together global industry, academic, and science-based resources to support financial institutions in the region in implementing ESG best practices.
In line with the broader push for greater awareness and adoption of ESG investing, IMAS has organised various workshops, masterclasses and forums to facilitate the exchange of knowledge and discussion around various ESG-related issues. For example:
IMAS, as a member of the UNCTAD Sustainable Investment Advisory Council, is also happy to share that UNCTAD has launched the following ESG initiatives that our members can tap on:
Launch of the UN Global Sustainable Finance Observatory (GSFO)
As a platform supporting partnerships across organizations in the sustainable investment space, the GSFO features three newly developed products:
The Sustainable Finance Track of the 2023 UNCTAD World Investment Forum
Launch of the Sustainability Integration Framework for Institutional Investors
The 2nd UNCTAD Sustainable Fund Awards
Chapter III on Capital Markets and Sustainable Finance in the World Investment Report
An Integrated Framework and Action Menu on Sustainable Finance Regulation
In a bid to enhance financial institutions’ resilience to and management of environmental risk, IMAS co-created the Guidelines on Environmental Risk Management for Asset Managers (“EnRM Guidelines”) with MAS, which set out MAS’ supervisory expectations for asset managers in their governance, risk management and disclosure of environmental risk. To support the industry’s efforts to implement the EnRM Guidelines, IMAS, being a Strategic Partner to the Green Finance Industry Taskforce (GFIT), co-sponsored the Handbook on Implementing Environmental Risk Management (“Handbook”), which offers guidance to banks, insurers, and asset managers on best practices in implementing environmental risk management.
As part of IMAS’ continued efforts to support the upskilling and reskilling of our industry, in particular in the ESG space, we launched our inaugural ESG module on IMAS’ iLearn platform, “Sustainable Investing and MAS Guidelines on Environmental Risk Management”. The module was created with the support of IMAS Environmental Risk Management Working Group, which comprises representatives from fund management companies who had previously worked with the MAS on the EnRM Guidelines
“IMAS has an important role in Singapore’s strategy to go green, and will provide further support in the nation’s most recent initiative, the Singapore Green Plan 2030. Just this year, we co-drafted the EnRM guidelines and co-funded a handbook on implementing environmental risk management. Moving forward, we believe that the launch of this ESG e-learning module will reinforce our focus on building capability within the industry and help asset managers develop the knowledge and skillsets they require”
– Susan Soh, Chairman of IMAS.
Through our participation on the Singapore Fund Industry Group (SFIG), IMAS is working with industry stakeholders to identify and address capabilities gap by introducing new and relevant training for asset management professionals, with an initial focus on ESG (and digitalisation).
As the ESG landscape continues to evolve and mature, IMAS will continue to work closely with our members to collectively represent your views in cross-industry committees, offer relevant training programmes and create platform for members to come together to discuss further on ESG matters
