professionals such as academia and financial journalists can also play a constructive role when they query or opine on matters relating to a listed company ’ s financial statements, strategy or governance. 22 so it is an ecosystem of many different stakeholders. there are other official agencies involved too. the accounting and corporate regulatory authority ( acra ) regulates financial reporting, audits and auditors. acra has in place a financial reporting surveillance programme where it reviews financial statements to ascertain compliance with accounting standards, as well as the practice monitoring programme where it inspects the public accountants for the quality of their audit work. 23 there is also the commercial affairs department ( cad ) of the singapore police force. cad is singapore ’ s principal white - collar crime investigation agency. under the mas - cad joint investigation arrangement, mas and cad will jointly investigate offences to bring the full weight of our law against violations and abuses in our financial system. 24 while each regulatory or investigation agency has its distinct role, there is a shared responsibility in ensuring that the market is well - regulated, that corporate malfeasance is thoroughly investigated and that appropriate actions are taken against wrongdoers. 25 some have asked why investigations into potential wrongdoings can take a long time. let me explain. the time needed to complete an investigation varies according to the complexity of each case. in complex cases, issues often cut across the domain of several agencies. take for instance, a case of alleged corporate irregularities. these could range from issues of mis - selling to inadequate or false disclosures, or improper application of accounting rules, or there may also be breaches of fiduciary duties. a single case could span potential breaches of different regulations and laws, such as financial advisory regulations, securities law, company law, listing rules, accounting rules, and the penal code. often, our investigators have to retrieve and review a lot of data. where a case has a cross - border dimension, the relevant agencies will also have to seek the assistance and support from our foreign counterparts. our investigations must be thorough and rigorous to be fair to all parties concerned. 26 mas will strengthen our co - ordination with acra and cad in the surveillance of our capital markets and in investigations. we have set up a joint forum between mas and acra to review accounting - related and disclosure issues. as mentioned earlier, mas ’ enforcement team already has a joint investigation arrangement with cad where our investigators collaborate closely. our agencies will, in addition, work closely with sg

ravi menon : a vibrant carbon market for a low carbon future opening remarks by mr ravi menon, managing director of the monetary authority of singapore, at the climate impact x announcement event, singapore, 20 may 2021. * * * minister for national development mr desmond lee, ladies and gentleman, good afternoon. let me start with the big picture. to limit global warming to 1. 5°c, global annual greenhouse gas emissions need to be halved by 2030 and reduced to net - zero by 2050. yet, the trajectory of carbon emissions is still on a steady uptrend. just on energy needs alone, demand in asia is projected to double in 2030. economic development will drive demand for fossil fuels, which is still the cheapest way to generate electricity in many parts of asia. the switch to cleaner energy sources cannot be made in one leap. coal accounts for about half of asia ’ s total energy supply today. we need to shift the energy mix progressively, first to relatively less emissions - intensive fuels like natural gas, and then to renewables. this shift will require fundamental infrastructure changes : refurbishing power plants to generate cleaner fuels ; and upgrading the power grids to manage different energy sources and to minimise the intermittency of renewables. to make this progressive shift to a low - carbon future, asia will need a lot more transition financing than is available today. to spur more green finance for transition, we need to have two things in place : a price on carbon, and a market for trading carbon credits. carbon prices and carbon markets climate change is the result of probably the biggest market failure in history. for the longest time, the world did not put a price on the carbon emissions that have steadily degraded our environment and now pose serious climate risks. a meaningful price on carbon is critical to create the right incentives to reduce emissions. the challenge is to arrive at the right price, one that does not unduly impede economic development and yet is sufficient to drive decarbonisation efforts that will enable the world to meet its climate targets. carbon pricing is gaining momentum. globally, there are 61 carbon pricing initiatives in place, half of them carbon taxes and the other half emissions trading systems. 1 / 5 bis central bankers'speeches singapore introduced in 2019 a carbon tax of $ 5 per tonne of greenhouse gas emissions, to establish the principle of a price on emissions. the original intention was to gradually raise the tax from 2023 onwards to between