In APAC, consumers are shifting their purchase behavior to become more sustainable, indicating that environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations are increasingly coming to dominate many of their investment decisions. Consumers in Thailand (43%), as well as Vietnam (43%), are the biggest adopters of sustainable finance, followed by Malaysia (30%) and Singapore (27%). Providing green and sustainable financial products and services is becoming a prerequisite for banking institutions, with 66% of consumers in Vietnam, 65% in Thailand, 61% in Malaysia, and 50% in Singapore, stating that the availability of green financial services has become more important to them in the last five years. Trends observed regionally are consistent with global figures. Globally, almost two-thirds (63%) of consumers said they would like the core financial services they use to be sustainable, and 60% said they would like every financial service they use to be sustainable.
Rising concerns over deceitful practices in Asia have pushed public agencies and industry participants to introduce standards and rules. In Singapore, the Singapore Exchange announced in December 2021 that it will proceed with plans to require issuers to provide climate-related reporting and disclosures on board diversity from the financial year commencing 2022. Similarly in India, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) issued in May 2021 a circular implementing new sustainability-related reporting requirements for the top 1,000 listed companies by market capitalization. Hong Kong, too, has mandated financial institutions and listed companies to disclose the financial impact of climate change on their businesses by 2025.