banks, technology advances and globalisation of financial markets continued apace. a new financial landscape was emerging. mas - initiated reforms banking was the most critical and complex part of the mas reforms. we started from a strong position, with sound and well supervised local banks, although they operated in a tightly regulated and protected environment. our challenge was to free up this industry so that it could continue to develop and grow, without compromising stability and soundness in a changing landscape. strong and wellmanaged local banks, with a significant share of the home market, were and are critical to the resilience and stability of our financial system. however, we could no longer maintain this by restricting access to the domestic market. we needed to permit more competition, but in phases, to allow the local banks to adjust and compete effectively. mas therefore introduced a five - year programme to liberalise access to singapore ’ s domestic banking market. we made the first moves in 1999. as we lightened our regulatory touch, we also worked with banks to set guidelines for best practices and give banks greater room for enterprise and innovation. stronger banking industry today, singapore ’ s banking sector is more open and dynamic. this has come about without sacrificing strength and stability. individual banks and the industry as a whole have risen to the challenge. existing players have upgraded and strengthened themselves. banks have maintained high prudential standards, become more efficient and improved their service quality and product ranges. the foreign banks have contributed to the vibrancy of the singapore banking scene. competition has led to the development of a rich array of innovative products and more discriminating pricing models. customer service as a whole has improved. foreign banks have continued to expand their operations here, and many have made singapore a regional or even global platform for important banking services. the local banks have strengthened their capabilities and expanded their range of business activities. they have built up their management teams, and made significant infrastructural investments to enhance their operational effectiveness. fees and commissions have risen as a proportion of operating income. banks are offering new business services, while continuing to provide affordable banking facilities to the average singaporean. they have held their own despite the increased competition. for instance, their market share of resident non - bank deposits ( both acu and dbu ) has declined only marginally from 62 % to 59 % over the last five years. the local banks have also improved their business and risk management capabilities. the recent change in

ngfs is making a determined push : transition planning 1 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches blended finance supporting transition planning to achieve net zero, every economic sector will need to decarbonise. different sectors will have different transition pathways. in hard - to - abate sectors, the transition could be quite disorderly. those firms or industries that fail to adequately decarbonise may risk being left with non - viable businesses or stranded assets. to support every sector to decarbonise, financial institutions need to fund activities supporting transition and not just green projects. this means channelling funds to : pivot business models for firms in economic sectors that are not so green to become greener ; and invest in technologies with a lower carbon footprint or higher energy efficiency. transition finance in turn needs credible transition plans – by both financial institutions and their customers – as well as good transition planning. many financial institutions have made net - zero commitments and set decarbonisation targets. however, when they finance their customers'own transition to net zero through loans or investments in cleaner technologies, they may see a short - term increase in their financed emissions. this would particularly be the case in hard - to - abate sectors like steel, cement and chemical production. the increase in financed emissions will likely draw pressure and criticism from investors and stakeholders. only with credible transition plans will financial institutions be able to explain how their transition financing is consistent with their net - zero commitments and decarbonisation targets. financial regulators can set supervisory expectations for financial institutions on their transition plans in several ways. they can provide guidance to financial institutions on having a sound transition planning process that supports the credible transition efforts of their clients rather than divestment as the first choice. they can set expectations that financial institutions should engage their clients on climate risks and nudge them to draw up their own transition plans to mitigate these risks. they can signal to financial institutions the importance of referencing appropriate science - based sectoral pathways with meaningful intermediate targets for decarbonisation. they can adopt a multi - year approach when engaging financial institutions on their transition efforts. this includes acknowledging that there may be short - term increases in their financed emissions from supporting the transition of higher emissions clients towards climate positive outcomes. the monetary authority of singapore intends to do all of the above. 2 / 5 bis - central bankers'speeches the ngfs is providing thought leadership on the role of financial regulators with respect to financial institutions'transition plans and transition planning process. we