MAS Unveils AI-Powered Tool ‘MVP’ for Sustainability-Linked Loans
by Fintech News Singapore November 14, 2023The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced the launch of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) to assist banks in issuing Sustainability-Linked Loans (SLLs) in the real estate sector.
The tool will help banks to address key challenges such as inaccurate settings for Sustainability Performance Targets (SPTs), greenwashing concerns, and inefficient processes.
The MVP was developed by the Project NovA! consortium comprising 23 members, marking the successful completion of its first phase. Project NovA! was initiated in 2021 as part of the National Artificial Intelligence (AI) Programme in Finance.
The next phase of NovA! will focus on collaborating with the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) to tap on BCA’s Super Low Energy Building (SLEB) database to enable NovA! to access country-wide data on green buildings.
This will help banks to identify prospective green building projects, achieve real-time SPTs monitoring, and accelerate green financing within the real estate sector.
NovA! will also extend its AI capabilities to support sustainable financing in other sectors such as power and manufacturing industries.
This next phase of Project NovA! was announced by Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of National Development and Ministry of Communication and Information, at the Capital Meets Policy Dialogue during the Singapore Fintech Festival 2023.
The NovA! consortium also published a whitepaper which documents the methodology used in the MVP system.
Sopnendu Mohanty
Sopnendu Mohanty, Chief FinTech Officer, MAS, said,
“The collaboration between MAS and BCA marks a transformative phase in both green finance and sustainable building, accelerating our industry towards achieving their net-zero targets.
NovA! creates a transparent and effective environment that combats greenwashing and directs finances towards truly sustainable projects.”
Ang Kian Seng
Ang Kian Seng, Group Director of Environmental Sustainability at BCA, added,
“In this collaboration, we’re leveraging MAS’ AI capabilities to drive a data-centric approach to sustainability, which not only helps improve building standards but also advances green financing for the Built Environment sector’s decarbonisation goals.
This partnership is a critical step towards meeting Singapore’s net-zero and Singapore Green Building Masterplan targets.”
