SINGAPORE - Sustainable investing has become mainstream, and Singapore is taking steps to build a financial sector with a strong sustainability focus, Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong said on Thursday (March 23).

"We must continue to add value, and look at sustainable investing," he said.

One way to add value is to grow Singapore's green bond market, said Mr Wong.

To kick-start the introduction of green bonds as a new asset class here, a green bond grant scheme will be introduced this year to incentivise the issuance of green bonds by offsetting issuance costs up to a cap of S$100,000 per issuance.

Mr Wong, who is also Second Minister for Finance, announced this at the Investment Management Association of Singapore's annual conference.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore on Thursday also launched a public consultation to introduce a new corporate structure called the Singapore variable capital company, to encourage asset managers to domicile their funds here.

Currently, there are three structures for investment funds in Singapore - unit trusts, companies and limited partnerships.

Mr Wong added that one possibility is for variable capital companies to be listed on the stock exchange, so that investors can purchase shares in these funds