DBS Bank has appointed a new director of sustainable development.
Helge Muenkel joins the bank from Dutch multinational financial group ING, where he was responsible for sustainable finance and global capital markets for Asia-Pacific.
He replaces Mikkel Larsen, who left the position of CSO in November after 5 years to take up the role of managing director of the new carbon credits market, Climate Impact X.
Muenkel helped develop ING’s regional business in sustainability advisory services and sustainable financial transactions. He also led a task force that focused on sustainability-related disclosures, which is supported by the 10 finance ministries and capital market regulators of the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) .
He previously worked for the Italian group UniCredit, in credit research and structured debt capital markets, and for the German Deutsche Bank, as an asset manager.
He holds a master’s degree in economics from the University of Munich and a postgraduate degree in sustainability from Cambridge.
In a statement, DBS CEO Piyush Gupta said that with 20 years of experience in sustainability and banking, Muenkel is “well placed” to build on the commitments the bank has made in the growing environmental, social and governance (ESG) space.
DBS has invested heavily in ESG and the marketing of its green credentials in recent years. The bank pledged to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 in October, joined the Equator Principles responsible investment framework and plans to construct Singapore’s first net zero building.
The bank has come under sustained pressure to stop funding coal-fired power plants in the region and was among the financiers of Jawa 9&10, a controversial coal-fired power project in Indonesia that reached financial close in 2020. In April Last, DBS pledged to reduce its exposure to coal to zero by 2039.
“The climate issue is increasingly pressing and, through sustainable finance, banks are playing a key role in enabling and catalysing impact. DBS, for its part, has pledged to be net zero by 2050. At the same time, the issue of social inequality has also emerged during the pandemic as deserving of serious attention, and the bank continues to step up its efforts. to support small businesses and communities,” Gupta added.
