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NAB Envisages Rapid Scale-Up of Carbon Credits

(17 June 2025 – Australia) NAB has forecast that the carbon offset market will mature rapidly as institutional financing and favourable government policy underpin longer term investment certainty.

NAB predicts that Australia’s carbon market is set to follow the renewables pathway to critical mass by unlocking institutional lending capacity and project financing. The group is predominantly funding carbon projects through mortgage lending secured by property currently with these loans generally serviced through both agricultural and carbon cash flows.

The scheme encourages farmers and landholders to use sustainable agricultural and vegetation management to generate additional income streams via ACCUs, or to offset their own emissions. NAB finds that carbon market participants believed that bank debt for carbon project development was generally not yet efficient or available at an institutional scale.

Debt financing for carbon projects today is primarily made up of prepayment structures, where a counterparty provides an upfront payment to secure future ACCU supply at agreed prices. Equity financing is also used whether at a project, corporate or fund level.

“NAB is interested in supporting customers with greater choice in funding and risk management solutions for carbon projects. As we’ve seen through the bank’s global support for renewables energy generation, taking a project finance-style approach can be effective in achieving a step-change in industry output” stated NAB Global Head of carbon trading, Ben Jackson.

The bank acknowledged that the integrity of the ACCU scheme had been called into question, with critics arguing that offset schemes could not undo the environmental damage inflicted by burning fossil fuels. An independent review found the ACCU scheme to be fit for purpose granted measures to clarify governance and transparency would be pursued further.

“The advent of proponent-led methodologies in the ACCU Scheme is likely to lead to more innovative carbon project opportunities and we’re eager to continue evolving NAB’s capabilities in this sector to better service our customers and the Australian carbon market” Jackson added.

“The carbon market will evolve into an infrastructure-type market which will be very similar to renewables in the way it is financed. We are probably five years away from the carbon market getting to that point though, and another five to ten years away for the nature repair market” commented Silva Capital Co-Managing Director of Carbon Assets, Raphael Wood.

CBA Enables GenAI to Support “Security Champions”

(17 June 2025 – Australia) CBA is reinforcing its security engineers with pilot generative AI (GenAI) capability as well as 1200-plus “security champions” bank-wide.

The initiative seeks to embed security culture in all corners of the bank with the group’s security champions program running for several years but only referenced externally this year. Security champions receive training to develop a “security skillset” and generally comprise a “technologist, product owner or engineer” employed in various parts of the bank.

GenAI could aid the work of both security engineers and champions across the bank in future.

“The tools, based on AWS Bedrock, could augment and accelerate security assessments performed for software products and features developed at the bank. Some of the ways the technology can help actually reason and do what’s usually between the two ears of a security professional has been pretty powerful” commented CBA CIO for Group Security Harvey Deak at the AWS Summit Sydney.

“We’re looking forward to rolling this out en masse to the security champions program to augment both the human side of it, but also augmenting some of our security assessments as part of scaling the program out.”

“By embedding security champions within key areas, CBA effectively scaled its security practices while ensuring collective responsibility across the organisation.”

“There was a four times increase in the speed of our cyber security reviews and our processes in the software and system development lifecycle. That ultimately sped up the delivery of features and changes to our systems and products, translating into two times more technology changes, but also quality increased, so there have been 2.5 times fewer incidents as we’ve scaled this program out. Most importantly, the number of security issues and defects that were making their way through [to production] fell off a cliff” Deak added.

 

SMBC Announces Incoming Malaysia Head of Corporate Banking

(16 June 2025 – Malaysia) Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation Malaysia Berhad (SMBC Malaysia) has appointed Wendy Ooi as Malaysia Head of Corporate Banking, effective 16 June 2025.

SMBC continues to expand its corporate banking division with the announcement following the recent appointment of Joyce Tee as SMBC APAC Head of Corporate Banking.

Ooi has amassed over twenty years of experience in corporate and investment banking, and most recently oversaw Standard Chartered Malaysia’s corporate, commercial and institutional banking team.

Based in Malaysia and reporting to SMBC Malaysia Deputy CEO Nizar Faisal and Tee, Ooi will lead the bank’s non-Japanese corporate banking strategy in Malaysia and strengthen its position as a trusted partner to global and regional corporates across APAC, working closely with teams across the SMBC Group network.

“We are pleased to welcome Wendy to SMBC. Her experience in leading high-performing client businesses across Asia will be invaluable, as we accelerate our transformation efforts focused on deepening our Asia Pacific presence, expanding client coverage and enhancing capital efficiency” said SMBC Malaysia CEO and President, Atsuhide Shiojiri.

“Wendy’s strong track record and client-centric approach will be instrumental, as we continue to grow our corporate banking franchise in Malaysia and Asia Pacific” Tee added.

Stablecoin Usage Expands Rapidly Amid Regulatory Concerns

(16 June 2025 – Global) Stablecoin digital asset usage is growing rapidly yet concerns regarding supervision and their broader impact on financial markets stability continue to mount just as quickly.

Until recently, stablecoins’ ease of use and anonymity made them a de facto currency reserve for crypto traders and a conduit for crime including drug trafficking and money laundering. But, hastened by the return of President Donald Trump to the White House, stablecoins are becoming increasingly mainstream, a development that could have profound implications for the global financial system Philip Stafford reports for FT.

The stablecoin tokens, a form of cryptocurrency that acts like cash, account for 90 per cent of business activities at the trade payments group Mansa, which supports SMEs in Africa, Southeast Asia and South America. Payments to customers and her team are made using tether, the world’s largest stablecoin, and Mansa received its fundraising the same way.

Stablecoins represent one thing above all – ready access to a proxy for US dollars. Stablecoins track the value of the currency one-for-one but the money is transferred online, outside the banking system. That makes them highly attractive in countries impacted by high inflation, weak or volatile currencies, unstable banks or capital controls.

Despite concerns and a US regulatory clampdown on the industry after the 2022 market crash, the Stablecoin market has continued to grow rapidly. Stripping out automated crypto markets trading, transaction volumes in stablecoins rose to US$752 billion in May 2025, up from US$409 billion year-on-year (YOY) according to recent Visa data. The number of wallets that regularly send and receive payments hit a record average of 46 million last month, up from 27 million YOY.

“People are trying to hedge risk you know, you’re trying to just not go down with the economy. The dollar is still the dollar, whether we like it or not. And it is still the most desired currency to hold because of how much trade is done in the US dollar” commented Mansa Co-Founder and COO, Nkiru Uwaje.

“Stablecoins are far superior to the network of correspondent banks that handle most of the world’s cross-border transactions which take longer, charge more and occasionally make mistakes” Uwaje, a former executive at Swift, added.

“A stablecoin “has all the benefits of not having to move cash, coins or interact with the banking system for payments. Without regulation, it also has all the costs of no oversight, regulation or money laundering controls. The open question is whether tokenised money will still be more efficient, safer and quicker once regulated” stated ClearToken CEO Ben Santos-Stephens.

Wise Transfers Primary Listing from LSEG to US

(16 June 2025 – United Kingdom) Wise has announced plans to shift its primary listing to the United States (US) from London, the latest British company to exit the London Stock Exchange (LSEG) in a quest for a larger valuation elsewhere.

Wise confirmed in its full-year earnings announcement that it will change to a dual listing, with its main listing hub shifting to the US while maintaining a secondary listing in London. Formerly known as TransferWise, Wise debuted on London’s stock exchange in 2021 in a direct listing that valued the company at ÂŁ8 billion – the largest ever listing of a UK tech company. It is now valued at ÂŁ11.1 billion, according to LSEG data.

LSEG is facing doubts over whether it can host major tech listings. The city is often criticised for lacking the depth of liquidity and industry expertise from investment analysts to accommodate major tech transactions.

“Moving our main listing will help drive greater awareness of Wise in the US, the biggest market opportunity in the world for our products today, and enable better access to the world’s deepest and most liquid capital market. A dual listing will also enable us to continue serving our UK-based owners effectively, as part of our ongoing commitment to the UK. The UK is home to some of the best talent in the world in financial services and technology, and we will continue to invest in our presence here to fuel our UK and global growth” commented Wise CEO Kristo KÀÀrmann.

“The decision to move the primary listing away from London creates an obstacle for the company to join the FTSE100, Britain’s blue chip share index” stated Hargreaves Lansdown Equity Analyst, Matt Britzman.

 

USD Slides to Multi-Year Low as Downside Prevails

(13 June 2025 – Global) The US dollar is depreciating rapidly as market participants sell-off the global reserve currency amid traders growing uncertainty about US economic policy.

The greenback has declined to its lowest in three years as unpredictable ever-changing US trade policy unsettles markets and expectations build for Federal Reserve rate cuts under threat by a rising oil price as middle east tensions mount between Israel and Iran, fuelling outflows from the world’s largest economy.

The USD is almost ten percent lower against a basket of major currencies this year, leaving other countries struggling with unanticipated FX moves that are having a knock-on impact on economic growth and inflation. Pound Sterling is up almost nine percent this year and analysts say foreign buyers may be rushing to snap up UK Plc before any further dollar weakness makes future transactions more expensive. European Central Bank (ECB) rate setters have a close eye on the single currency, which at $1.15 is near its highest since 2021.

“There’s clearly solid dollar selling. In my heart-of-hearts we are going to get the EURUSD to $1.20 but we shouldn’t get there too fast because it’s deflationary” said Societe Generale Chief FX Strategist, Kit Juckes.

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