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[SINGAPORE] The three local banks in Singapore have been flagged by an environmental advocacy group for financing coal-powered nickel smelters and refineries run by Indonesia’s Harita Group.

OCBC has topped the list of financial institutions that are said to have loaned money to the conglomerate, whose core business is in the natural resources sector. According to a recent report by environmental group Market Forces, the total amount loaned since 2018 came up to US$635 million.

UOB was second at US$201 million, while DBS is said to have deployed US$87 million over the same time period.

The Business Times has not been able to independently verify these amounts as banks typically do not comment on their corporate lending transactions.

BNP Paribas, Maybank, CIMB Niaga, as well as several Indonesian banks including Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia and Bank Central Asia were also identified in the report.