The other three co-announcers are Enterprise Singapore (ESG), Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), and the Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS).
Ms Ho Hern Shin, MAS’ Assistant Managing Director, Banking & Insurance, said “MAS strongly supports the development of best practices in commodity financing to promote transparency and trust in the sector. These practices will strengthen banks’ lending standards and facilitate continued lending to trading companies.”
They said banks are taking a collaborative approach to develop a set of best practices for the commodities industry and will be consulting the trading companies. This will strengthen Singapore’s resilience, relevance, and competitiveness as a global commodities trading hub.
Singapore is home to a uniquely diverse and international trading community that has grown from strength to strength over the past three decades.
As the government agency driving Singapore’s trading hub development, ESG’s Assistant CEO, Mr Satvinder Singh said “I am encouraged that the banks and trading companies are coming together to improve the bankability of the commodities sector amidst the challenging global business climate.”
“Singapore is home to a very large and diversified group of commodity companies. This initiative to raise financing standards and best practices in commodities financing would strengthen Singapore’s attractiveness as a commodities trading hub and help set standards for the region,” he added.
ACRA’s Assistant Chief Executive, Legal Services & Compliance, Mr Andy Sim said “Having a set of best practices will help to provide the benchmark for corporate governance practices of commodity trading companies. ACRA believes that this collaboration between the banks and trading companies is a big step forward towards boosting the corporate transparency and governance for this sector.”
Mrs Ong-Ang Ai Boon, Director, The Association of Banks in Singapore said: “This is the first set of best practices in commodities financing that banks in Singapore are developing with the trading community, with support from the government agencies. These best practices will help to uplift transparency and trust in commodities financing. We look forward to the best practices being widely adopted across the industry, ”
