Malaysia’s hugest lender Malayan Banking is just around the corner to accomplishing its goal of putting RM80 billion (S$24 billion) toward sustainable finance by 2025. A huge chunk of the green loans has been disbursed to help Singapore-based companies’ shift to low-carbon sources, Maybank Group Chief Executive Officer Khairussaleh Ramli said in an interview at his office.
“We can converse about heading into renewables straight away, but equally necessary is how we support our clients on transition financing, transition advisory,” he said. Maybank is among huge Malaysian banks promising to funnel money into green loans. CIMB Group Holdings, which counts independent wealth fund Khazanah Nasional as its hugest shareholder, directs to allocate RM60 billion to sustainable funding by 2024, twice its foremost goal, while RHB Bank plans to put RM20 billion toward sustainable funding by 2026.
The amounts, while huge, are not good enough to wean businesses off fossil fuels and accomplish another sustainability aims. Malaysia is tentatively going to require at least RM637 billion of investments in the next three decades to help its renewable energy aim to reach 70 per cent of the energy mix till the year 2050. The nation will “require support from over the seas” for funding, Mr Khairussaleh said.