The Monetary Authority of Singapore told banks on Oct. 28 to review their dealings with customers that may be linked to the haze from Indonesian forest fires, and said clear breaches of environmental laws would warrant stronger steps, including limiting exposure or exiting the relationship. The same day, the exchange regulator sent fresh questions to seven listed plantation groups, including Wilmar International, and three ministers summoned senior executives of 10 companies served with haze notices.

The moves pull the haze into the rules that govern bank credit and listed-company disclosure. That matters for investors because Singapore's exchange lists several plantation groups with large Indonesian operations, among them agribusiness group Wilmar, Golden Agri-Resources and First Resources. Campaign group data show DBS, OCBC and UOB have all financed the industry.

MAS Puts Haze Risk on Banks' Books

MAS said banks should engage customers that may be linked to the haze, learn their role and check whether they have adequate measures to prevent, detect and stop fires. Where risks are heightened, banks may impose conditions, review financing terms, limit further exposure or reassess the relationship. "Clear breaches of environmental laws would warrant stronger measures," the regulator said, citing exposure limits and exits. It said it had reinforced expectations already set out in guidelines issued in 2020 and March 2026.

Data from the Forests & Finance coalition, cited by The Straits Times, attribute about US$11 billion in historical financing for palm oil and pulp and paper companies to the three local banks, with OCBC accounting for US$5.91 billion since 2010. The newspaper noted that the figures are not current outstanding loans and do not show that any money was tied to the recent fires. The banks declined to comment on the data but said they hold a zero-tolerance policy on deforestation and open burning.

SGX RegCo Presses Wilmar, First Resources and Five Others

Singapore Exchange Regulation, or SGX RegCo, said in a statement that it sent its new queries to Golden Agri-Resources, Bumitama Agri, First Resources, Wilmar, Kencana Agri, Indofood Agri Resources and TSH Resources, CNA reported. Each must explain its fire controls and why it judges them adequate, disclose any links with 10 Indonesian companies served preventive notices by Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA), and say whether any authority is investigating it. Boards must also assess whether the fires have a material impact on the business.

An earlier round, sent on Oct. 16, went to eight agribusinesses including Olam Group, and all eight said they did not use fire to clear land, The Business Times reported. Golden Agri shares fell 3.5% that day and Wilmar slipped 1.2%, The Straits Times reported.

Wilmar was first to reply, after the market closed on Oct. 28, saying in its filing that it has no operational, supply-chain or business relationship with the 10 Indonesian companies. Indonesian police are conducting preliminary investigations into fire incidents that Wilmar itself reported, covering about 28 hectares of its subsidiaries' plantations in West Kalimantan, it said. Its own checks traced the fires to land outside its concessions or to unplanted areas and found no evidence linking them to its land clearing, the company said, putting expected crop losses below US$500,000.

Wilmar's board said the fires and haze have not had, and are not presently expected to have, a material operational, financial, legal or regulatory impact. Separately, Wilmar reported a 25.2% drop in third-quarter core net profit to US$267.3 million, as revenue rose 13.6% to US$21.7 billion, The Business Times reported. The shares closed up 0.6% at S$3.27 before the results.

OCBC Group Research said in an Oct. 21 note that the selloff had left plantation stocks with "sizeable" potential upside, The Business Times reported. It named Bumitama its top pick, with a fair value 39% above the Oct. 20 close, but said it was unclear how long the pressure on the shares would last.

Haze Law Amendments Head to Parliament on Nov. 3

The meeting brought Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, Senior Minister K. Shanmugam and Sustainability and Environment Minister Grace Fu together with leaders of the 10 Singapore-registered companies that NEA served with information notices on Oct. 23. Those present included Wilmar Chairman and Chief Executive Kuok Khoon Hong, CNA reported.

All the companies pledged to cooperate, Shanmugam told reporters, according to a Ministry of Home Affairs transcript. Each will be directed to hire, and pay for, an investigations firm and a law firm from a government panel, which will examine its operations, supply chains and corporate relationships and report to NEA.

Fu will table amendments to the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act at the parliamentary sitting that begins Nov. 3, The Business Times reported. They would let NEA order companies to appoint assessors and make a failure to comply an offense. The act was also invoked during the 2015 haze, when no company ended up being sued or fined, the newspaper reported.

Shanmugam said he did not want to suggest the companies were guilty or the only ones involved, and that the government will name those that cooperate and those that do not. Asked whether the scrutiny could drive firms away, he said they had been told that "if there is no wrongdoing, there will be no issues."

Singapore and Indonesia agreed on Oct. 27 to form a joint task force to share financial intelligence and evidence on companies linked to the fires, CNA reported. "Smoke can cross borders, so can money," Indonesian Foreign Minister Arrmanatha Nasir said.

The haze has eased for now, with NEA forecasting a moderate Pollutant Standards Index reading of 60 to 90 for Oct. 29. Next for investors: the Ministry of Law's panel list, due within days, the other companies' answers to SGX RegCo and the bill Fu is due to table on Nov. 3.