Covered Bonds
February 12, 2025
The inability to manage debt is one of the biggest reasons behind the failure of many companies. Just in the past year, giants like Toys R Us and Sears had to file for bankruptcy because they were unable to manage their debt. Leverage is essential in today’s world since it allows a company to expand […]
The Lure of Investment Banking and Why is it so for Management Practitioners All aspiring management students as well as career professionals’ dream of working in either a management consultancy or an investment bank during their education and working life. Indeed, asks any MBA (Masters of Business Administration) student about their dream jobs, chances are […]
As mentioned earlier, investment banks have been in operation for several years now. This is the reason why, for many years, they have been involved with almost any deal which includes large sums of money. The operations of investment banks have become very diverse over the years. This is the reason that investment banks are […]
Financial reporting is used by a wide variety of users for a wide variety of purposes. For this reason it has been difficult to set a common framework of accounting. The many stakeholders often have contrasting needs from accounting information. Let’s look at the stakeholders and their need for accounting data: Capital Markets: Accounting information […]
Companies like Wal-Mart are often credited with bringing in technology to the retail business. Prior to multinational companies introducing technology, retail was just a mundane business which was run without the use of any electronic or sophisticated retail systems. However, all that has changed now as retail is at the center of many technological innovations. […]
Finance and sustainable business practices have traditionally been considered to be separate fields. It was common for companies all over the world to participate in activism related to sustainable business practices. However, this activism was more a part of their social responsibility and would not have any impact on their bottom line. This has changed with the advent of sustainable bonds.
Sustainable bonds are a mechanism to combine the social responsibility as well as the financial structure of the company to form one integrated strategy. When the idea of sustainable bonds was first introduced to the market, it was considered to be a fad. However, with the passage of time, green bonds have become quite a rage. Today almost all major multinational companies such as Apple, Pepsi, etc. have issued sustainable bonds.
The largest financial institutions of the world such as JP Morgan Chase as well as Citibank have also been involved in the issuance of sustainable bonds. Also, important governments such as the United States and China have shown an inclination towards the issuance of such bonds. Many experts who keenly observe the areas of bond issuance and track the latest developments have concluded that, in the near future, almost 5% of the bonds which will be issued will be sustainable bonds.
Hence, it is important for every investor to understand what these bonds are and how they impact the overall markets for bond issuance.
The word sustainable-bonds is composed of two different words i.e. sustainable as well as bonds. The word sustainable is used to refer to the overall impact of the investment whereas bonds are the commonly used means of debt financing. Simply put, sustainable bonds are a specialized type of bond, wherein the issuer makes a voluntary pledge to use the proceeds realized from the bonds issue in projects which do not have a negative impact on society. This means that along with being financially viable, the projects also have to be environmentally and socially viable.
It is important to understand that sustainable bonds do overlap the areas of green bonds and social bonds. However, sustainable bonds are a wider concept.
Investors who regularly invest in fixed income securities routinely come across terms such as green bonds, social bonds as well as sustainability bonds. These terms seem quite similar. However, it is important to understand the difference between these terms.
Green bonds are meant exclusively for environmental issues. On the other hand, social bonds are meant exclusively for issues that impact the social construct of society. Sustainability bonds can be considered to be hybrid bonds. This means that the objectives of both green bonds, as well as sustainable bonds, can be considered when the proceeds from sustainability bonds are being utilized. This is what makes sustainable bonds more popular. It is easier for issuers to justify the use of the proceeds in the event of an audit. Since issuers have more flexibility, these types of bonds are becoming more popular with the passage of time.
There are several advantages that make sustainable bonds an important source of financing. Some of these advantages have been written below:
The bottom line is that sustainable debt is here to stay. Companies, investors, as well as financial institutions, need to adjust their investment strategies in order to account for the increasing number of sustainable bonds being issued in the market.
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *