Asia’s Banks Begin too Integrate Sustainable Food and Agriculture into Financing

Singapore (ANTARA/ACN Newswire) – asia Research & Engagement (ARE) today released the Protein Transition Bank Benchmark 2025, its first assessment of how banks in Southeast Asia and India are beginning to integrate sustainable food and agriculture considerations into their financing frameworks.

Titled, “Banking Asia’s Protein Transition: Financing the Shift towards Responsible and Sustainable Food and Agriculture Systems“, the study evaluates 24 banks across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, indonesia, the Philippines, and India, offering a comparative view of how prepared financial institutions are in responding to risks and opportunities in supporting a protein-system transition, based on public disclosures.

Building Understanding to Support a Resilient Food System

Kate blaszak, Director, Protein Transition at Asia Research & Engagement (ARE), said, “Food and agriculture are increasingly material to financial stability, sector resilience, and humane and sustainable outcomes across Asia. This benchmark provides a constructive starting point for banks to build understanding of intersectional risks in this critical sector, strengthen capacity for responsible lending, and engage clients on emerging opportunities in sustainable food systems.”

Regional snapshot: Early Signs of momentum

although maturity varies by market, the benchmark finds that banks across the region are starting to recognize food-and agriculture-related risks and the importance of more resilient, lower-impact food systems.

• Singaporean banks have responsible-lending frameworks in place,and DBS,UOB,and OCBC have all adopted deforestation-exclusion principles.The next steps are to enhance transparency, demonstrating deforestation and cage-free lending, and boost sustainable finance for this sector.
• Malaysia’s CIMB and Maybank already support sustainable palm production. They can enhance leadership across their livestock exposure through strengthening nature protection by adding feed-related deforestation exclusions and adding responsible antibiotic use and animal welfare principles to their lending criteria.
• Thailand’s Kasikornbank, Krung Thai, and SCB reflect early alignment with the country’s expanding plant-based and future-food sector, supporting “Kitchen of the World” ambitions with a clear opportunity to demonstrate leadership in alternative proteins and humane production methods.
• Indonesia and the Philippines face significant