The fund raising outlook for impact investing strategies remains strong despite recent challenging months. Managers in Asia can play a meaningful role in creating impact 14.  and capitalise on this opportunity. For example: Impact Investment Exchange, a Singapore-based enterprise whose platforms connect impact investors with underserved communities, issued its second Women’s Livelihood Bond in January this year. The $ million social bond is listed on the Singapore Exchange and a third bond is being planned as part of the $ million series. BlackRock recently launched an actively managed impact fund to invest in firms addressing global challenges like COVID-19 and advancing the UN SDGs. Conclusion 15. In conclusion, the pandemic has raised the importance of the climate and sustainability agenda, and I encourage the financial sector to not lose sight of these issues even as countries and corporates rebuild. This virtual conference, bringing together over 5,000 participants from 80 markets, is timely for us to continue sharing insights and experiences as we work together to address global challenges. I hope that you will form new partnerships and deepen existing ones 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  through this virtual conference. I wish you a very fruitful week ahead. Thank you.
MAS announced our green finance action plan last year, which comprises three key thrusts: firstly, building resilience to environmental risks; secondly, developing green finance solutions and markets; and thirdly, leveraging innovation and technology. 8. We have made good progress across all three thrusts. We will issue a consultation paper on MAS’ Environmental Risk Management Guidelines for the banking, insurance, and asset management sectors later this year. These guidelines will set standards on governance, risk management, and disclosure, to enhance the financial system’s resilience to environmental risk. Last year, we expanded the sustainable bond grant scheme to support not just green but also social and sustainability bonds. This year, to accelerate green and sustainability linked lending, we are developing a green and sustainability loan grant scheme, which aims to defray the costs of external review and bank frameworks for such loans. This seeks to increase the ease of loan origination and reduce expenses for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), and encourage SMEs, corporates, as well as banks to integrate green and sustainability issues in their financing discussions and decisions. We will also be anchoring centres of excellence in Singapore, to undertake quality green finance research and talent development, with strong customisation and applications for Asia’s transition needs. The theme for the Global FinTech Hackcelerator, in this year’s Singapore FinTech Festival, is “Building Resilience, Seizing Opportunities, Emerging Stronger”. The 9. Hackcelerator will identify solutions that enable financial institutions to respond to the pandemic and climate change.