Country’s largest lender, State Bank of India on November 22 dual listed $650 million green bonds simultaneously on India International Exchange (India INX) and Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The bank said the dual listing is in line with this year’s topic of world investor week, ‘Sustainable Finance’, as indicated by regulatory body International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA).
Two days back, BSE’s international arm, India INX had announced its memorandum of understanding with Luxembourg Stock Exchange for cooperation in financial services industry, maintenance of orderly markets in securities respective country, ESG and green finance in the local market. This dual listing of green bonds is the first step towards this collaborated effort.
V. Balasubramaniam, MD and CEO, India INX said, “With this dual listing we have taken the first step towards our association with Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) with a mutual goal of deeply benefiting the investors and issuers at large. On this special occasion of World Investor Week, we are focusing on the theme of Sustainable Finance and this listing of Green Bonds by SBI is very important move towards that goal. We will work towards establishing a green corridor with Luxembourg to enable Indian Issuers to automatically qualify for dual listing with LuxSE to get investors from Europe and the globe. India INX has now emerged as the leading Bond Listing venue with over USD 33 billion dollars listing.”
Manoj Kumar, Executive Director, IFSCA said “Today’s dual listing of SBI bonds is an important step for IFSC in demonstrating regulatory convergence with the leading international markets of Luxembourg, which has the largest green bond listings in the world. This will pave way for Indian and European issuers to explore IFSC as a hub for issuance of green and sustainable bonds. On the occasion of World Investor week, themed around sustainable finance, the dual listing will also enhance international investors’ confidence in sustainable products listed at IFSC.”
Ashwini Kumar Tewari, Managing Director of SBI said “Bank has adopted “Sustainability” as one of its core values. A “Sustainability and Business Responsibility Policy” for the Bank has already been put in place, SBI has been the first Public Sector Bank in India to publish its Sustainability Report as per Global Reporting Initiative(GRI) framework. State Bank of India has raised USD 800 Mio in the Green Bond Market so far. The Listing of Green Bond with Luxembourg Stock Exchange will open up new avenues for market development and fund raising opportunities in green bond space”.
