We are entering an age of new ways to harness knowledge. As knowledge is dynamic, not static, our approach to learning also needs to be in sync. This calls for lifelong learning, interdisciplinary thinking and the ability to convert knowledge into action. An innovative and effective banker would need to constantly push the boundaries of knowledge. One cannot assume that the ‘facts’ that we know today will remain true. Just as in science, we should not take anything for granted, and remain open to insights from other fields of study. This is why the Bank has encouraged greater professionalism through professional qualifications and lifelong learning. As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” It is from this perspective that we can look forward to the completion of the Financial Education Hub located within the vicinity of Bank Negara Malaysia. The hub is envisioned to advance education, research and nurture innovation in financial services. This will be achieved through its state-of-the-art staff training facilities, a financial services library that will serve the entire financial services community, innovation labs for information technology, a software development hub, a cybersecurity centre and an integrated security command centre. 2/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  Future generations of financial services professionals will be nurtured and cultivated within this space. By congregating tens of thousands of finance practitioners within close proximity, we believe that great and exciting synergies will materialise to develop talent and raise professional standards of the industry.
Quality data is foundational in our fight against greenwashing and in enabling relevant stakeholders to make effective ESG-investment decisions. Third, it helps to catalyse green and transition finance flows. There is a significant gap between ESG data needs and the ESG data available. We need good data on firms' carbon footprint, historical carbon emission trends, and compliance with their respective transition targets. We also need data on the climate-related risks their physical assets are vulnerable to. But the ESG data acquisition process is often manual, tedious and costly. ESG data verification is at a nascent stage. This impacts the credibility of reporting. FinTech can be a key enabler in addressing these ESG data challenges. 5/8  BIS - Central bankers' speeches  Data acquisition. FinTech firms are offering solutions that connect directly via Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to sustainability projects, such as waste management systems, to retrieve relevant environmental and energy consumption data more efficiently and directly. Data provenance. Distributed ledger technology is being explored to address the issue of verifiability and traceability in data. Data for reporting. FinTech firms are offering automated reporting tools while staying agile to adapt to various reporting standards. For example, Matter Analytics offers reporting solutions that help asset managers and banks automatically generate customised and comprehensive impact reports for their clients. FinTechs are providing financial institutions with good data and analytics to evaluate and compare ESG performance. For example, Intensel uses artificial intelligence to examine and monitor climate data and satellite imagery to identify financial risks related to climate change.