A group of financial institutions that recently created the Green Bond Principles today released its governance framework, which will allow for diverse stakeholder input into the Principles, provide effective oversight, and support their further development. The group established the principles to encourage transparency, disclosure, and integrity in the Green Bond market.
The governance framework sets out the membership eligibility, which requires organizations to have issued, underwritten, or invested in Green Bonds, and admits others in the field of green finance as observers. It establishes an executive committee, which will include underwriters, issuers, and investors with global geographic representation. It also provides the appointment of a Secretariat. The governance framework is available for viewing at www.icmagroup.org/greenbonds/.
The International Capital Market Association (ICMA) will serve as Secretariat, assuming administrative duties, and providing guidance for the governance of the Green Bond Principles and other issues. The Secretariat’s duties include facilitating information exchange with issuers, investors, underwriters, and other stakeholders, as well as gathering input for the annual update of the Green Bond Principles.
The Green Bond Principles were developed with guidance from issuers, investors, and environmental groups, and serve as voluntary guidelines on recommended process for the development and issuance of Green Bonds. The Principles suggest process for designating, disclosing, managing, and reporting on the proceeds of a Green Bond. They are designed to provide issuers with guidance on the key components involved in launching a Green Bond, to aid investors by ensuring the availability of information necessary to evaluate the environmental impact of their Green Bond investments, and to assist underwriters by moving the market toward standard disclosures that facilitate transactions.
To date, 25 banks have announced their support of the Principles. In addition to the four founding banks that served as a drafting committee for the Principles – Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, Crédit Agricole CIB, and JPMorgan Chase & Co. – and the nine initial supporters, including BNP Paribas, Daiwa Capital Markets America Inc., Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Mizuho Securities, Morgan Stanley, Rabobank, and SEB – the following 12 banks have also expressed their support of the Principles: Barclays, BMO Financial Group, Credit Suisse AG, DNB, DZ BANK AG, ING, Lloyds Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Securities, Nomura, RBC Capital Markets, Santander Global Banking & Markets, and Société Générale.
For information on how to participate in the Green Bond Principles, please contact ICMA at greenbonds@icmagroup.org. As the Principles are designed to be industry wide, Green Bond issuers and investors as well as banks are invited to participate. Those interested in volunteering for the Executive Committee may submit applications to ICMA between May 1st and May 31st.
Click here for more information on the Green Bond Principles.
International Capital Market Association (ICMA)
ICMA represents all the institutions that are active in the international capital market and has members located in 53 countries. ICMA’s market conventions and standards have been the pillars of the international debt market for almost 50 years, providing the framework of rules governing market practice which facilitate the orderly functioning of the market. ICMA actively promotes the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the capital markets by bringing together market participants including regulatory authorities and governments. www.icmagroup.org
Contacts:
Kerrie McHugh, 646-855-3375
kerrie.mchugh@bankofamerica.com
or
Citi:
Tyler
Daluz, 212-793-5234
tyler.b.daluz@citi.com
or
Crédit
Agricole CIB:
Louise Tingstrom, +44 (0) 7899 066 995
louise.tingstrom@bladonmore.com
or
JPMorgan
Chase & Co.:
Jennifer Kim, 212-622-7068
jennifer.h.kim@jpmchase.com
or
BNP
Paribas:
Celeste Brown, +44-207-595-2436
celeste.brown@bnpparibas.com
or
Daiwa
Capital Markets America Inc.:
Isabel DeJesus, 212-612-6151
Isabel.dejesus@us.daiwacm.com
or
Deutsche
Bank:
Nick Probert, +44 (0)20 754 71605
nick.probert@db.com
or
Goldman
Sachs:
Andrew Williams, +1 212-357-0005
andrew.williams@gs.com
or
HSBC:
Jonny
Blostone, +44 (0) 20 7992 3448
jonny.blostone@hsbc.com
or
Mizuho
Securities:
Benjamin Harding, +44 20 7090 6501
Benjamin.Harding@uk.mizuho-sc.com
or
Morgan
Stanley:
Alex Wessendorff, +44 20 7425-8955
Alexander.Wessendorff@morganstanley.com
or
Rabobank:
Press
Office, + 31 (0) 30 216 2758
pressoffice@rn.rabobank.nl
or
SEB:
Christopher
Flensborg, +46 8506 23138
christopher.flensborg@seb.se
or
Barclays:
Jon
Laycock, + 44 (0)20 7773 4324
jon.laycock@barclays.com
or
BMO
Financial Group:
Pav Jordan, (416) 867-7645
pav.jordan@bmo.com
or
Credit
Suisse AG:
Media Relations, +41 844 33 88 44
media.relations@credit-suisse.com
or
DNB:
Marit
Giske, +47 90929940
marit.giske@dnb.no
or
DZ
BANK AG:
Silvia Conesa, +49 69 7447 90568
silvia.conesa@dzbank.de
or
ING:
Carolien
van der Giessen, +31 20 5766386
carolien.van.der.giessen@ing.com
or
International
Capital Market Association:
Allan Malvar, +44 20 7213 0310
Allan.Malvar@icmagroup.org
or
Lloyds
Bank:
Ian Kitts, +44 (0) 20 7356 1347
ian.kitts@lloydstsb.co.uk
or
Mitsubishi
UFJ Securities:
Alexandra Rhys-Jones, +44 (0) 207 577 2668
alexandra.rhys-jones@int.sc.mufg.jp
or
Nomura:
Rebecca
Daniel, +44 20 7102 4222
Rebecca.Daniel@nomura.com
or
RBC
Capital Markets:
Christine Stewart, CPIR, 416-974-3678
Christine.Stewart@rbccm.com
or
Santander
Global Banking & Markets:
Lisa Marheineke, +44 20 7756 4517
lisa.marheineke@santandergbm.com
or
Société
Générale:
Murray Parker, +44 (0) 20 7676 6771
murray.parker@sgcib.com