Initiatives

Supras mobilise social bonds in Covid-19 fight

Investors have rallied to a wave of social-style bond issuance from supranationals aligned with the issuers’ role in the fight against the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, providing at the same time a tonic for ailing fixed income markets. Neil Day explores the trend and the potential for such bonds.

Deals

NIB tackles corona-crisis with rapid Response Bond

The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) last week inaugurated the first dedicated Covid-19 use-of-proceeds framework with a €1bn three year “Response Bond”, moving quickly to support the alleviation of societal and economic impacts of the crisis. Head of funding and IR Jens Hellerup discussed the rapid launch of the quasi-social bond with Sustainabonds.

Social

ESG key to few covered ratings, but Fitch finds social positives

The only Fitch-rated covered bonds for which any ESG factor is positively credit-relevant are those of Aegon Bank and Panama’s Banco La Hipotecaria, according to the rating agency, which is disclosing “ESG relevancy scores” for credit ratings in a bid to increase transparency but found little impact across the asset class.

Deals

SR takes Nordics negative, Sør plans sustainable debut

SR-Boligkreditt inaugurated a green bond framework with the first negative-yielding euro benchmark covered bond from the Nordics on Tuesday, while Sparebanken Sør Boligkreditt is set to follow with a green covered bond debut off the first Norwegian framework also targeting social goals.