In a pioneering move, the National University of Singapore (NUS) is engaging Nasdaq-listed financial services firm Northern Trust to tokenise the environmental impact reporting data from the university’s third green bond, issued in 2023.
United Overseas Bank (UOB), as the lead arranger of the bond issuance, will solicit and provide crucial feedback on how the tokenised data can enhance investors’ sustainability reporting practices.
Conducted as part of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Project Guardian, the initiative will leverage blockchain technology to enhance transparency, data integrity and investor confidence in sustainable investment practices, say the three parties in a Jan 13 release.
Northern Trust will use its Matrix Zenith digital assets platform to mint and hold a green bond reporting token. Investors of the bond will receive the same complete set of information which will remain unchanged even as the bond changes hands.
The green bond reporting token is the first step in NUS’s broader strategy to explore how blockchain technology can enhance green finance practices through a three-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with Northern Trust in November 2024.
Tan Kian Woo, senior vice president and chief finance officer at NUS, says: “By creating a token that enhances the integrity and transparency of our environmental data, we aim to provide greater confidence to investors, helping them meet their sustainability reporting goals. This is only the beginning, as we continue to push boundaries in sustainable financial practices.”
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Koh Yan Leng, vice president (campus infrastructure) at NUS, says investors and stakeholders will get access to “prompt” updates to support their sustainability reporting needs. “It also reflects NUS’s ongoing efforts to optimise energy use and reduce carbon emissions across our campuses.”
Edmund Leong, head of group investment banking at UOB, says the data tokenisation initiative aims to provide “real-world feedback” on the usability of tokenised data, “ensuring that it meets the standards required for transparent and reliable sustainability reporting”.
As at 3.17pm, shares in UOB are trading 23 cents lower, or 0.635 down, at $36.59.
