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Green Economy
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25th December 2025
FROM TRUST TO REFI (REGENERATIVE FINANCE): BUILDING IT RIGHT THROUGH THE GREEN ECONOMY
By David Cheong, CEO, Greenpro Malaysia Trustee Berhad
By David Cheong, CEO, Greenpro Malaysia Trustee Berhad
The global transition toward a green economy is reshaping how wealth is preserved, governed, and transferred across generations. Sustainable transformation does not begin with capital or technology. It begins with trust. As economies become increasingly digital, interconnected, and borderless, wealth today moves faster than governance. Families and enterprises now operate across platforms, jurisdictions, and generations — yet many do so without the structures necessary to preserve value, manage risk, or ensure continuity. This structural gap is where the conversation around the green economy, family offices, and regenerative finance must begin, not with products, but with governance.
The Green Economy Starts With Structure
The Green Economy Starts With Structure
The green economy is often discussed in terms of innovation, sustainability, and impact. However, its long-term success depends on whether assets are allocated responsibly, transparently, and with accountability over time. Families and institutions seeking to participate in this transition increasingly recognise that structure matters. Without proper legal and fiduciary frameworks, even well-intentioned assets can create risk, fragmentation, or unintended consequences. This is where trust structures and family office frameworks play a foundational role.
Trust and Family Office Structures
Our mandate is fiduciary in nature. We provide trust and family office structures focused on:
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- wealth preservation
- stable and prudent portfolio administration
- long-term stewardship across generations
all within the ambit of the Trustee Act 1949 and Trust Companies Act 1949. For family offices, trust structures serve as governance infrastructure, enabling families to align assets with long-term objectives, values, and succession planning, rather than short-term outcomes. This governance layer is essential before wealth can responsibly engage in the green economy.
Why Trust Structures and Family Offices Are Moving Toward Green and ESG-Aligned Directions
Globally, family offices and trust structures are increasingly considering green and ESG-aligned approaches as part of our client’s long-term planning. This shift is driven by structural, not speculative, factors:
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- Intergenerational Alignment Younger family members are increasingly involved in succession and governance decisions. Many place greater emphasis on environmental responsibility and social impact, encouraging families to align wealth structures with long-term values.
- Long-Term Perspective Family offices operate on multi-generational horizons. This patient approach aligns naturally with sustainable and green initiatives that require time, governance, and continuity to mature.
- Risk Management Environmental, social, and governance considerations help families identify risks that may not be evident through traditional analysis alone, including regulatory exposure, reputational concerns, and operational resilience.
- Governance and Compliance Readiness As regulatory frameworks around sustainability evolve globally, structured and well-governed family office arrangements allow families to adapt responsibly and proactively.
Enabling the Green Digital Economy
The green digital economy requires more than access and platforms. It requires ethical participation and accountability. Digital infrastructures such as Green-X, a Shariah-compliant digital exchange platform, represent the access layer of this evolving economy. However, access alone is insufficient without proper governance. GMTB complements this ecosystem by ensuring that assets engaging with the digital economy are placed within legally structured, compliant, and well-administered trust and family office frameworks. Governance and access must work together. One without the other creates systemic risk.
Collaboration Within the Green Ecosystem
Collaboration Within the Green Ecosystem
We operate within a broader green digital ecosystem through strategic collaboration, while maintaining clear separation between fiduciary governance and platform or project activities.
Within this ecosystem:
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- The ESG Association of Malaysia contributes to education, awareness, and dialogue around sustainability, ESG frameworks, and the evolving shift toward regenerative finance, including initiatives such as sustainable agriculture and long-term resilience models.
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- Digital platforms such as Green-X reflect the market infrastructure supporting ethical and Shariah-aligned participation.
Our role remains focused on fiduciary stewardship, ensuring families and institutions participate responsibly, with governance, continuity, and compliance firmly in place.
Beyond ESG: The Shift to Regenerative Finance (ReFi)
Beyond ESG: The Shift to Regenerative Finance (ReFi)
While ESG frameworks have strengthened accountability and transparency, a deeper transition is now underway. Regenerative finance (ReFi) moves beyond minimising harm. It focuses on restoring social, economic, and environmental systems. This transition reflects a broader mindset shift, from extraction to regeneration, from short-term outcomes to long-term resilience. For trust structures and family offices, this aligns closely with their inherent purpose: stewardship across generations.
Why Trust Matters in Regeneration
Regeneration requires time, discipline, and continuity — qualities that trust structures are uniquely designed to support. Trusts provide: intergenerational stewardship, disciplined governance, alignment between wealth, values, and purpose. At GMTB, we view trust not merely as a legal instrument, but as social infrastructure, enabling families and institutions to participate in the green economy responsibly, while contributing to long-term regeneration.
Building It Right, From the Start
From trust, to family offices, to the green economy, and toward regenerative finance — each layer must be built deliberately and responsibly. Our role is to ensure this journey begins on solid ground.
Beyond Borders. Beyond Generations.
