green bonds

Nationale-Nederlanden Bank (NN Bank) on 10 May issued the first Dutch green covered bond, reinforcing the group’s ESG drive, including the establishment in 2020 of Woonnu, a mortgage provider aimed at incentivising sustainable living. Sustainabonds’ Neil Day discussed the varied dimensions of the bank’s sustainability strategy with NN Bank’s Niek Allon, head of treasury, Sander Roling, funding manager, and Patricia Plass, head of ESG office and CEO of Woonnu.

A year on from the first conversion of an issuer’s conventional bonds into green bonds, by Gecina, Crédit Agricole CIB hosted a roundtable to discuss such innovative exercises and to pioneer liability management strategies that enable issuers to accelerate their transition to sustainable finance.

Public sector issuers are at the forefront of green and social bond markets as they seek to support society in transitioning, justly, to a sustainable future. Demand is buoyant, supported by regulatory developments, but challenges remain, notably in determining appropriate standards on the social side. Sustainabonds gathered leading players to tackle the key issues facing the sector in a roundtable discussion finalised in mid-February.

Loans to local government bodies large and small are behind SFIL’s green bond issuance, and the French group anticipates complementing this with social lending, according to CEO Philippe Mills and colleagues.

A year on from SpareBank 1 Østlandet’s green bond debut, Karoline Bakka Hjertø, head of sustainability, and Runar Hauge, portfolio manager, treasury, spoke to Sustainabonds’ Neil Day about how the bank is furthering its ESG ambitions. Eivind Hegelstad, CFO and investor relations, SpareBank 1 Boligkreditt — the SpareBank 1 banks’ joint covered bond-issuing specialist entity — joined the pair to share insights into green mortgages and the related funding strategy.

Growth in sustainable covered bond issuance is expected to moderate this year after a doubling of such issuance in 2021, with constraints on appropriate assets holding back growth, and regulatory developments a mixed blessing for issuers hoping to tap into investor enthusiasm for such bonds.

Korea’s Hana Bank aims to build on its sustainable issuance in a variety of formats and currencies to reach KRW 25 trillion (€18.6bn) by 2030. Yoo-Na Ha, senior manager of ESG planning section, Hana Bank, spoke to Sustainabonds’ Neil Day about how green and social bonds reflect the group’s evolving sustainability targets and wider developments in Korean society.

The European Union issued its first green bond to unprecedented demand yesterday (Tuesday), raising €12bn in the largest green bond ever, a 15 year deal that attracted over €135bn of orders, representing an endorsement of the Commission’s ESG direction.