The Monetary Authority of Singapore has told banks to apply existing environmental-risk controls more closely when customers may be connected to transboundary haze.
MAS said banks should use information available under the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act and other credible sources to identify affected customers. Where a link appears, institutions are expected to engage the customer, obtain further information and assess the strength of its governance and remediation.
Possible responses include attaching conditions to financing, changing contractual terms, limiting exposure or reconsidering the relationship. MAS said clear evidence of legal breaches, or an unwillingness to address the risk, may justify an exit. The statement does not direct banks to terminate every customer mentioned in a haze inquiry.
The guidance applies the regulator’s 2020 environmental-risk framework and its March 2026 transition-planning guidance to a recurring regional problem. It is supervisory direction rather than a new criminal prohibition, but it sharpens the conduct MAS expects to see in credit and relationship decisions.
