Social

QBE put gender equality centre stage when it sold the first capital instrument from a financial institution to be in social bond format on 9 November. Here, QBE group treasurer Paul Byrne discusses the inspiration for the landmark and its execution.

Australia’s Westpac Banking Corporation will on Thursday begin a roadshow ahead of a planned debut euro green bond, while compatriot QBE will follow up its first green bond from the insurance sector with a gender equality US dollar AT1 deal.

Companies in the banking and broader finance sector foresee the demands of customers increasingly driving their sustainability measures in the future, according to oekom survey findings exclusively shared with Sustainabonds, with positive sustainability ratings of even more importance to such institutions than others.

Kommunalkredit Austria expects most of its future covered bond issuance to be green or socially-orientated, according to an official at the bank, after it returned to the wholesale markets for the first time since its privatisation with an inaugural Eu300m social covered bond yesterday (Tuesday).

Caja Rural de Navarra intends to raise all new wholesale funding under a sustainability framework it inaugurated with a cédulas last November, according to its head of treasury, after the issuer sold its first senior unsecured deal under the framework and signed up to the Label.

Kommunalkredit Austria is preparing to return to the covered bond market after a three year absence with a social public sector covered bond, announcing its move the same day Social Bond Principles were unveiled by ICMA as the sector reaches what one banker said is a tipping point.

The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) unveiled Social Bond Principles yesterday (Wednesday), elevating guidelines introduced last year in a bid to promote growth in a move a leading investor said could benefit the overall ESG market.

Caja Rural de Navarra sold a Eu500m seven year debut sustainable cédulas today (Wednesday) that, although priced in the middle of guidance with a book below Eu600m, was deemed a relative success in navigating difficult conditions at the same time as reaching specialist investors.