BRICS bank issues RMB green bonds

The New Development Bank announced on Tuesday that it has successfully completed its first green financial bond issuance of 3 billion yuan ($448 million), with a five-year term and interest rate of 3.07 percent — the first of its kind issued by an international financial institution.

The yuan-denominated bond was issued on the China Interbank Bond Market.

The total subscription for NBD’s first bond reached more than 9 billion yuan — a cover ratio of 3.1. More than 30 investors took part in the bidding, showing wide interest in the financial product.

The issuance is also NDB’s first time to tap the capital market.

K.V. Kamath, president of the bank, said the bank was delighted with the response from investors to its inaugural bond issue, and the issuance reinforced the bank’s belief that in addition to accessing global capital markets, considerable scope exists for the ND B to raise fund from capital markets of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries that founded the bank.

Leslie Maasdorp, chief financial officer of the bank, said the bank selected China as the first market to issue its inaugural bond because China is the world’s third-largest bond market, with sufficient depth and liquidity to attract a wide investor base.

“The NDB will continue to explore further local currency bond issuances in China as well as other member countries. We intend to actively promote the development of green finance and become a frequent issuer in the Chinese interbank market,” said Maasdorp.

The proceeds of the bond will be used for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the BRICS countries and will follow the green guidelines set out by the People’s Bank of China in December 2015. Part of the proceeds from the bond will be converted through cross currency swaps into US dollars to be lent to member countries, according to the NDB.

Market experts said that the NDB’s inaugural issuance of green bond has met investors’ demands for yuan-denominated fixed-income products and for green finance products.

Wang Ping, deputy managing director of China Central Depository and Clearing Co Ltd, previously said China’s market has great potential for developing green bonds, and it is likely to become one of the major green bond markets worldwide.