Singaporean bank DBS grows sustainable financing by 37% to $52.1 bln in 2023

SINGAPORE, March 6 (Reuters) - Singapore's biggest bank DBS Group has grown its sustainable financing commitments, net of repayments, by 37.3% to 70 billion Singapore dollars ($52.10 billion) as of end-December, from S$51 billion in 2022, it said on Wednesday.

DBS, which is also Southeast Asia's biggest bank by assets, reduced its thermal coal exposure by 18.2% to S$1.8 billion last year from S$2.2 billion in 2022, according to the bank.

The lender has also updated its coal policy to align with regional taxonomies on the managed phase out of coal, Chief Sustainability Officer Helge Muenkel said.

"We're massively reducing thermal coal exposure, but we want to go beyond that," Muenkel said in a media briefing ahead of the launch of DBS' sustainability report. "We want to support a just transition by facilitating the early shutdown of coal power plants." ($1 = 1.3435 Singapore dollars) (Reporting by Yantoultra Ngui; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)