The Monetary Authority of Singapore will support insurers’ participation in sustainable infrastructure investments in carbon capture and coal phaseout projects that are in the greenfield and construction stages, even if they do not meet operational history requirements, said its managing director Chia Der Jiun at a Singapore International Reinsurance Conference keynote on Monday (Nov 3).
The time-bound pilot will allow insurers and other financial asset managers to have a stake in these projects with some reduction in capital charge, provided they meet internationally recognised sustainability principles, standards or guidance.
“The calibration of the capital charge will depend on the extent of risk mitigation offered by asset suppliers to address the unmet risk criteria.”
Asset managers from BlackRock, Brookfield, Clifford and Macquarie have indicated interest in the pilot, Chia said, and the pilot is expected to start in January next year.
“We see opportunities for insurers to invest and support the large infrastructure financing needs in the region,” Chia said. “Insurers hold significant investment capacity and balance sheets and the long duration of infrastructure investments match well with the longer term liabilities of life insurers.”
Chia also highlighted the central bank’s support in key initiatives, from alternative risk transfers to mitigate climate change, to pathfin.ai, a collaborative knowledge hub that will foster exchanges in AI implementations in the financial sector launched in August this year.
The pathfin.ai Knowledge Hub, launched earlier in October, will help financial institutions discover how their peers are applying AI and receive guidance on workforce transformation, Chia said.
Over 100 participating financial institutions — including insurers — have participated in the central bank’s Pathfinder Programme, where participating financial institutions share their experience implementing AI while gaining insights from their peers’ experiences.
Pathfin.ai comes on top of other partnerships like Project MindForge, where the central bank is partnering with leading insurers to develop a risk framework for responsible use of GenAI in insurance. Project Mindforge was announced in 2023.
“MAS will continue to partner with and support the industry to adopt AI effectively and responsibly, while supporting the financial sector workforce to gain the skills to use AI to augment their jobs,” said Chia.
The central bank will also extend its support of investment-linked securities (ILS) to cover non-APAC risks and renewals while continuing to prioritise support for insurers that address protection needs within the APAC region, Chia said. “MAS will also work with the industry to attract and catalyse demand for ILS in Singapore.”
ILS funds have been growing in Singapore and Asia. In Singapore, MS Amlin’s Phoenix Re 3 ILS sidecar expanded 12.5% to US$90m at the start of 2025, adding capacity to support the region’s demand for alternative reinsurance, and nearly US$480m worth of ILS cat bonds were listed in the city in 2024.
“With climate risk growing globally, including in Asia, we expect continued momentum in the growth of ILS, alongside reinsurance capacity in our region, as more countries and businesses seek greater protection from catastrophic risk,” Chia said.
“As we look ahead, while risks will continue to evolve, with the challenges lie significant opportunities in our region,” Chia added. “Lives, wealth and assets have a growing need for protection, and has a growing role for the insurance industry to play.”
