Kuala Lumpur Series 2023
Breaking Barriers In Driving Financial Inclusion
Overview
The Malaysian banking industry will become more competitive in the future as a result of Bank Negara Malaysia’s foray into sustainable and ethical banking efforts, as well as digital banking, with the issuing of five digital banking licenses (BNM). Sustainable finance relates to investment decisions that consider the environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors of an economic activity or project. Over the past three years, Malaysia has seen consecutive years of growth in the volume of sustainable debt issuances.
In 2021, Malaysia saw a 306% increase from 2020, with a volume of RM8.425bil in such issuances. This upward trend has continued and year-to-date, the nation has achieved a record RM10.64bil in sustainable debt issuances. This figure is anticipated to rise further. Social finance is likewise positioned to play a larger role in the industry, successfully complementing the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goal by integrating inclusivity into the country’s future financial ecology. As the financial sector evolves, so will skills and employment, making it critical for the country to have a highly skilled workforce that understands the broader areas of responsible finance and the ethical and social purpose of banking that extends beyond financial returns.
Registration
Registration of BankTech Asia - Sustainable Finance 2023 Conference
Opening Remarks
BankTech Asia - Sustainable Finance 2023
Conference by Chairperson
Speaker
Jasmine Ng
Co-Founder, Women In Blockchain Asia / EnGame / myBID
Welcome Remarks
Welcome Remarks
Speaker
Selva Nagappan
Managing Director, BankTech Asia - Sustainable Finance 2023 Conference
Keynote Speech
Sustainable Finance from Sweden
- Sweden is a pioneer in carbon taxation and a leader in green bonds. Learn the best practices of Swedish banks and how the Nordic financial ecosystem has supported this initiative.
- This session will provide suggestions for Malaysian banks to be able to emulate the Nordic banks through Public-Private Partnerships and other manners of collaboration.
Speaker
His Excellency Dr. Joachim Bergström
Ambassador of Sweden to Malaysia
Plenary Session
Financing Sustainable Finance - The Kitchen Sink Approach
- Learn the transformative power of embedded finance, where financial services seamlessly integrate into non-financial ecosystems.
- Discover how BankTech innovation empowers institutions to embed finance, unlock new revenue streams, and forge deeper customer relationships.
Speaker
Professor Dr. Joseph Cherian
Practice Professor of Finance, Asia School of Business and Cornell University (Visiting)
Break
Morning Refreshments
Panel Discussion
Strengthening Macroprudential Policies in Emerging Asia by Promoting Climate Resilience and Financial Stability
Many Emerging Asian countries have been refining macroprudential policies, particularly since the Global Financial Crisis. For instance, they have developed policies targeting housing markets and broadly transposed the Basel III requirements into their national legislation.
- In the wake of the growing requirement and focus on climate change and green financing, this session intends to identify emerging vulnerabilities and their associated financial stability risks so that banks and financial institutions can respond with the appropriate macroprudential tools.
Moderator
Dr. Gary William Theseira
Council Member, Climate Governance Malaysia (CGM)
Panellist
Lakshmi Lavanya Rama Iyer
Head of Policy & Climate Change, WWF
Murali Ram
Lead, Cities & Advisory, Arup
Panel Discussion
Public-Private Partnerships for Climate Finance
This sessions explores how can public-private partnerships (PPPs) scale up climate financing and how such partnerships should be designed to best fulfill this task?
- PPPs provide frameworks to ensure public leadership and accountability in tackling climate change while enabling the ownership of certain components of climate finance to be transferred to private hands.
- How can banks prepare for climate negotiations and effective climate finance?
Moderator
Dr. Gary William Theseira
Council Member, Climate Governance Malaysia (CGM)
Panellist
Arina Kok
Partner, Climate Change and Sustainability Services, Ernst & Young Consulting Sdn Bhd
Shanta Helena Dwarkasing
Director of Programs, UN Global Compact Network, Malaysia & Brunei
Joanne Rodrigues
Group Chief Financial Officer, Affin Bank Berhad
Break
Networking Luncheon
Panel Discussion
Capitalising on Islamic Blended Finance Instruments and Mechanisms to Achieve Net-Zero
Development banks and commercial lenders may be more likely to lend if green or climate funds invest in the equity of climate initiatives. As a result, public funds offer incentives at the fund and project levels, and both can be combined with public and private funds.
- Mobilising private wealth on a big scale will be critical to accomplishing their climate goals. Financial markets alone cannot accomplish the job, but combining public and private resources provides distinct benefits by lowering investment risk and attracting more finance.
- Multilateral development banks and international financial institutions can help by developing blended finance arrangements to change the risk-return profile for emerging economies throughout the climate transition.
- This game changing session aims to explore how Islamic blended finance instruments and mechanisms can be used to achieve Net-Zero.
Moderator
Rejina Rahim
Founder, Wahine Capital
Panellist
Bilal Parvaiz
Executive Director, Head Islamic Corporate Commercial & Institutional Banking, Standard Chartered Saadiq Berhad
Rizal Il-Ehzan Fadil Azim
Chief Executive Officer, Alliance Islamic Bank Berhad
Panel Discussion
In Conversation: Sustainability, Digital Transformation and Fintech - The New Challenges of the Banking Industry
Digital transformation of the banking industry affects sustainable finance and allows for the emergence of new competitors such as Fintech companies and increases the role of banking institutions in covering the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Principles for Responsible Banking. In Europe, where there is a greater focus on Sustainability Finance, the spike in regulatory requirements created an opportunity within a new market: Reg Tech, which the European Banking Authority defines as “any range of applications of technology-enabled innovation for regulatory, compliance and reporting requirements implemented by a regulated institution”.
- This session explores solutions for the new challenges faced by banks in Malaysia, especially with new regulations such as sustainable finance that will increase the bank’s scope, what are the opportunities for digital transformation solutions to support banks in this area as well as digital investments to facilitate this systemic change.
Speaker
Nisha Paramjothi
Head, Digital Banking, Kearney, Singapore
Ravi Kittane
Partner - Financial Services, Ernst & Young Consulting Sdn Bhd
Break
Evening Refreshments
Panel Discussion
Incentive Mechanisms for Investments In Carbon Emission Reduction to Accelerate Net-zero
This session looks at the banks’ motivation for providing subsidies in the form of:- four incentive strategies for carbon emission reduction, i.e., price-only, cost-sharing, revenue-sharing, and both-sharing strategies.
- The equilibrium decisions under four incentive strategies are obtained by establishing and solving game models.
- In this session, we will discuss many strategic insights through theoretical analysis, which can provide important decision-making references by which firms can establish appropriate cooperation mechanisms among supply chains to promote sustainable development.
Moderator
Jasmine Ng
Co-Founder, Women In Blockchain Asia / EnGame / myBID
Panellist
Zalina Shamsudin
Head of International Programs - Asia Pacific, Climate Bonds Initiative, United Kingdom (Virtual)
Jacqueline Lam
Regional Lead for Southeast Asia, Global Sustainability Policy and Partnerships, The Boeing Company, Singapore (Virtual)
Dr. Renard Siew
Head of Corporate Sustainabilty, Yinson
Panel Discussion
Creation of Banking Frameworks and Standards that focus on Climate and Gender to close the SDG Gap in Banks
There needs to be a framework that focuses on mobilizing and enhancing development impact of private finance through alignment to the SDGs.
- To this end, the scope of this new framework should encompass private actors (asset managers, pension funds, credit rating agencies, commercial and investment banks, etc.) and also public authorities (governments, central banks, development finance institutions, etc.) – given their role to provide the right environment and set the right incentives to allow the private sector to achieve SDG alignment.
- This session attempts to address the elephant in the room, how is this alignment addressed and recognised in Malaysia?
Moderator
Rejina Rahim
Founder, Wahine Capital
Panellist
Nadjme Yusuf
Group Sustainability Accelerator Officer, Affin Bank Berhad
YBhg. Dato' Darawati Hussain
Independent Non-Executive Director, Malaysia Venture Capital Management (MAVCAP)