Latest stories on Socially Responsible Investments

• Green QE or divestment? Market eyes ECB’s plans

  

  Debt market specialists this week put forward contrasting views on the policies the European Central Bank might use to tackle climate change, after Christine Lagarde, its new president, said her strategic review of its mandate and operations would encompass how the bank should respond to it. She also promised action on stablecoins. Burhan Khadbai and Lewis McLellan report.

  • 12 Dec 2019

• Serious about green? Lagarde must ditch dirty debt

  Christine Lagarde, the new European Central Bank president, has planted a flag, placing climate change at the centre of the ECB’s priorities. That is bold — and laudable — but if the ECB is to have a meaningful impact, green QE is not enough. The ECB must divest its holdings of unsustainable assets.

  • 12 Dec 2019

• France blocks Taxonomy law at last moment

  

  On Wednesday, just as the European Commission launched its European Green Deal to move Europe to a carbon-neutral and environmentally friendly future, France led a revolt against the Taxonomy which was the centrepiece of the EC's Sustainable Finance Action Plan.

  • 11 Dec 2019

• Schuldschein arrangers to target new investors attracted by ESG

  

  Schuldschein salespeople, hunting for new investors with deep pockets, are targeting institutions with environmental, social and governance portfolios as the trend for green deals flourishes.

  • 12 Dec 2019

• European Green Deal calls for ‘massive investment’, financial reforms

  

  The European Commission launched its European Green Deal on Wednesday, calling for “massive public investment” to tackle climate and environmental challenges which it calls “this generation’s defining task”.

  • 11 Dec 2019

• KfW cuts funding target for 2020, eyes Sonia and Sofr

  

  KfW has announced a smaller borrowing programme for next year, joining a number of other public sector borrowers also set to borrow less in 2020.

  • 12 Dec 2019

• Coventry missed out part of RWA calculation

  

  Even the best in class make mistakes. Coventry Building Society, incredibly well capitalised when compared with its banking peers, has been overstating its common equity tier one (CET1) ratio. Correcting the mistake does not affect its capital ratio greatly, but the episode raises questions over governance according to one analyst.

  • 12 Dec 2019

• The Taxonomy compromise: slower but fuller

  

  The compromises made last week to reach political agreement on the European Union’s Taxonomy of Sustainable Economic Activities were beginning to become clearer, before the surprise rejection of the deal by France and some east European countries on Wednesday threw the issue up in the air again.

  • 09 Dec 2019

• Investors four years from climate policy shock

  

  Responsible investors like to think they are helping to advance the fight against climate change. But 13 years after the Principles for Responsible Investment was founded, with $86tr of assets now managed according to them, most investors are still positioned as if the very policies they desire were never going to happen.

  • 09 Dec 2019

• In defence of Denmark's green idea

  

  Denmark’s debt officials have a highly original plan to issue green bonds in which the green element can be stripped off and traded separately. It’s going to put many a green nose out of joint. That’s no bad thing: the market needs to re-examine its claims to efficacy and virtue.

  • 10 Dec 2019

• Green finance needs looser regs – bank lobby

  

  The European Banking Federation has proposed a raft of policies to promote sustainable finance, such as a public sector financing guarantee scheme, looser bank capital requirements, a tweaked securitization framework and different collateral rules. Perhaps not surprisingly, the measures would lighten the regulatory burden on Europe’s banks, and they were criticised by politicians.

  • 10 Dec 2019

• Fund investors back London’s green revolution at year end

  

  ESG funds listed on the London Stock Exchange have had substantial investor interest through December, capping off a particularly green year for the market.

  • 10 Dec 2019

• Local retail selling to local funds pushes illiquid Aramco up 10%

  

  Saudi Aramco stock rose 10% on its first day of trading on the Saudi stock exchange on Wednesday, after its historic $25.6bn IPO last week. Aramco hit its daily limit for share price movement of 10% in its first trading hours, as a combination of local demand and scarce sellers drove the price higher.

  • 11 Dec 2019

• Beachbox signs as lenders turn red on green

  

  Spain’s Beachbox Hotelco has signed a €55m green project finance loan, amid increasing calls from some parts of the market for regulators and governments to do more to cover banks’ costs in sustainability lending.

  • 11 Dec 2019

• Langham closes HK$7.5bn sustainability-linked loan

  

  Langham Hospitality Investments has closed a HK$7.5bn ($958m) sustainability-linked deal with 11 lenders, marking the first loan of its kind from the hospitality sector in Asia.

  • 11 Dec 2019

• Swedavia’s green bond programme takes off

  

  Sweden’s Swedavia, an airport operator, has printed a Skr1bn (€94m) green bond, the issuer’s debut outing in the sustainable bond market.

  • 10 Dec 2019

• ESG finance academic joins Barings

  

  Barings Investment Institute has hired Agnès Belaisch as chief European strategist.

  • 10 Dec 2019

• Singapore’s Hoi Hup closes debut green loan

  

  Singapore property developer Hoi Hup Realty has received its debut green loan of S$332.5m ($244.5m), which it will use to partially finance its acquisition of a hotel in the southeast Asian country.

  • 10 Dec 2019

• DB appoints new head of regulatory affairs having ‘regained trust’ with authorities

  

  Christian Berendes will head up Deutsche Bank’s government and regulatory affairs department from next year, after being promoted internally.

  • 09 Dec 2019

• Chinese banks boost green certified bond volumes

  

  Certified green bond issuance globally has reached new highs this year, boosted by transactions from some of China’s largest banks. But deal flow from the Mainland still remains focused on the onshore market, with just a small group of borrowers venturing out to international investors.

  • 09 Dec 2019

• World Cup fever heats up as Qatar concerns cool down

  

  Bankers in Doha this week were eager to start a World Cup funding run in Qatar, as concerns over the Gulf state’s conflict with Saudi Arabia began to dissipate.

  • 09 Dec 2019

• Italy eyes green debut in 2020

  

  Italy is planning to issue its inaugural green bond in the second half of 2020, joining Germany and Sweden, who are also looking to sell their debut bonds in the format next year.

  • 06 Dec 2019

• Taxonomy deal agreed in principle: Greens jubilant

  

  The European Union has reached preliminary political agreement on the law that will introduce its Taxonomy of Sustainable Economic Activities. The news was hailed as a triumph by green finance specialists, though there is still a risk of battles to come.

  • 05 Dec 2019

• Danish DMO advances strippable green bonds

  

  Denmark’s government debt management office has formally proposed issuing green bonds in which the green element can be stripped off and traded separately — something that would be a world first, and would ask difficult questions of the green bond market. The DMO said investors had welcomed the idea.

  • 05 Dec 2019

• Ukraine faces crossroads as Privatbank tensions peak

  

  Ukraine is approaching a crucial moment in its financial history as a court decision nears on the future of one of its largest commercial banks that will determine the course of foreign investment in the country.

  • 05 Dec 2019

• Alberta slapped with Moody’s cut over strong dependence on oil

  

  The Province of Alberta was downgraded by Moody’s this week, because of its reliance on fossil fuel energy as it struggles with a lack of pipeline capacity and volatile oil prices, report Burhan Khadbai and Frank Jackman.

  • 05 Dec 2019

• Aramco prices historic IPO but clouds Saudi Vision 2030

  

  Saudi Arabia has completed the largest IPO ever, the listing of its economic crown jewel, the oil producer Saudi Aramco. However, a deal sold almost entirely to local investors was a missed opportunity to secure international backing for crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan for the country, writes Sam Kerr.

  • 05 Dec 2019

• Germany’s ESG loan wave rising as Lanxess signs

  Chemical company Lanxess has signed a €1bn sustainability-linked loan, as lenders expect next year to see huge growth in other German companies using the format.

  • 05 Dec 2019

• Properties, not rent caps, say Pfandbrief banks

  

  The Association of German Pfandbrief banks (VDP) has criticised a Berlin local government decision to cap rents, which it believes will hit investor confidence and lower construction activity. Despite these concerns, the outlook for Pfandbrief supply is positive and remains underpinned by solid fundamental factors.

  • 04 Dec 2019

• Moody’s downgrades Alberta citing non-renewable dependance

  

  Moody's downgraded the Province of Alberta a notch on Tuesday with the rating agency blaming a “structural weakness” in the region’s economy through its dependence on non-renewable energy such as oil.

  • 04 Dec 2019

• China’s Akesobio sets ball rolling for HK listing

  

  Akesobio, a Chinese biopharmaceuticals company, filed a draft prospectus for an IPO with Hong Kong’s stock exchange on Tuesday.

  • 04 Dec 2019

• YuHua Education prints $259m CB to fund buyback

  

  China YuHua Education Corp has bagged HK$2.02bn ($259m) from a convertible bond, printed in part to fund the buyback of its existing CB, according to a source familiar with the matter.

  • 04 Dec 2019

• Two climate lenses show different results

  

  Company managements are becoming more alert to climate change and developing policies on it, new research on the transport sector shows. But the range is huge, and having a board that recognises the climate problem does not necessarily mean the company is decarbonising fast enough.

  • 04 Dec 2019

• The ECB cannot pretend it is a selective investor

  

  The European Central Bank (ECB) likes to keep up the idea that it dips in and out of markets judiciously with its quantitative easing programme. This is disingenuous. Its driving force is its need to pump money into the system.

  • 03 Dec 2019

• CEB aiming for debut Sonia in 2020

  

  The Council of Europe Development Bank has told GlobalCapital about its borrowing plans for next year, which include making its debut in the new risk-free rate market.

  • 03 Dec 2019

• Ellaktor tests investor appetite for more Greek debt with €600m green bond

  

  Ellaktor is looking to tempt international investors with a carefully designed green bond that excludes a shaky construction business. The Greek company is looking to replace most of its long-term capital structure, currently heavy on local bank loans.

  • 02 Dec 2019

• Adani's debut USPP pushed into 2020

  

  Several sources in the US private placement market have told GlobalCapital that Indian power grid company Adani Transmission’s inaugural US private placement has not been placed, and the arrangers will return to the project in the first quarter of 2020.

  • 02 Dec 2019

• BBVA tweaks sustainability framework to permit more clients

  

  BBVA has expanded its framework for the social, green and sustainable facilities it provides to include companies and sectors that do not have projects directly connected to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

  • 02 Dec 2019

• EU member states to kill plans for a new development bank

  

  European finance ministers are not keen on setting up a new development bank from scratch. They will instead start technical work on how to better streamline the operations outside the EU of the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

  • 02 Dec 2019

• China Singyes gets $198m for debt structuring

  

  Dollar bond defaulter China Singyes Solar Technologies Holdings has won the backing of a Chinese state-owned company, raising funds from its new parent to fund a debt restructuring plan.

  • 02 Dec 2019

• GN Store Nord chooses Black Friday for stealthy bond

  

  GN Store Nord, the unrated Danish maker of hearing aids and headsets, launched a €200m-€250m four year bond today under its newly established Euro-MTN programme.

  • 29 Nov 2019

• Jiangxi LGFV whets investor appetite with green bond

  

  Jiangxi Provincial Water Conservancy Investment Group Corp sold its $300m debut international bond with no new issue premium, as strong investor support allowed the Chinese company to squeeze pricing.

  • 29 Nov 2019

• Freshfields: can investors put impact before return?

  

  A research project to be conducted by Freshfields over the next 10 months will attempt to clarify the hazy area of whether it is legal for investors to prioritise the impact of their investments on the real world, including where this might impair returns.

  • 29 Nov 2019

• Equity investors: more aware of climate risk?

  

  Economists at the European Central Bank said that stock markets were better than banks at reallocating investment towards greener sectors because of the greater role that equity plays in financing energy efficient sectors.

  • 28 Nov 2019

• Carney calls for ‘50 shades of green’

  

  The biggest hurdle to ensuring sustainable investment becomes a mainstream strategy is inconsistent measurement of the environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets that underpin the products, according to Mark Carney, governor of the Bank of England.

  • 28 Nov 2019

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