Awards for Excellence 2020
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The list of deals from 2019 and 2020 – green bonds, social bonds, sustainability bonds and ESG-linked loans – goes on and on for HSBC in Asia under Jonathan Drew, managing director, sustainable finance.
It is the go-to bank for the financing of renewables and for those looking to transition to a less carbon-intensive future. HSBC also pushes scalable innovation in sustainability in a way that perhaps no other bank does.
There were many firsts for the bank over the awards period. It was a bookrunner on the first-ever sustainable bond printed by the Republic of Korea and on the inaugural sustainability-linked loan issued in Asia’s hospitality sector, by Langham Hospitality Investments.
But perhaps the innovative deals that the bank will be best known for this year are its Covid-19 recovery bonds.
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Jonathan Drew |
The first coronavirus-linked bond issued by a corporate institution came from Bank of China’s Macau branch, a dual-tranche print with the proceeds allocated to local SMEs. HSBC was joint bookrunner and joint lead manager on the deal.
It was sole bookrunner and structuring bank on Shinhan Bank’s $50 million Covid-19 bond and ran the books on a blockbuster bond by the Republic of Indonesia that funded Covid relief efforts. Elsewhere, the bank donated $25 million to deliver personal protective and medical equipment, protect vulnerable people and ensure food security across the region.
“HSBC was quick to adapt to support our clients in the challenging conditions,” says Peter Enns, head of advisory and investment banking coverage. “We led the way with the development of ESG and particularly in Covid-19 themed bonds.”
In addition to its support of micro enterprises in rural China and India, the bank also launched SME green loans in Singapore and green certificates of deposits for retail clients in Hong Kong.
“We cannot be committed to sustainability and only serve large clients,” notes Sree Gopalakrishnan, co-head of regional client coverage, Asia Pacific.
In 2020 HSBC also launched green deposit accounts in Hong Kong and Singapore.
