Financial News
Author: Zhan Yongyu
2020-11-24 16:36
Last update date: 2020-11-24 16:37
The Hong Kong Monetary and Financial Research Center released a research report on green bonds today. The Assistant President (Economic Research) Zhang Liling of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority said that Hong Kong has arranged and issued a total of US$26 billion of green bonds, of which the Mainland is the largest issuer, followed by Hong Kong, as well as Asia and Europe.
She mentioned that the cost of borrowing green bonds is relatively low and they are more resilient. Certified green bonds are 49 basis points lower than ordinary bonds.
However, even if the cost of borrowing green bonds is relatively low, the issuance volume is still at a low level, and under the fixed issuance cost, the efficiency is still lower than that of ordinary bonds.
In terms of resilience, according to the Bloomberg Barclays Green Bond Index, the investment performance is better than that of the Bloomberg Barclays Composite Index, and the volatility is also smaller. The main reason is that in order to meet the green responsibility, companies may first reduce their holdings of other bonds when the market is unstable.
Liu Yingbin, Senior Assistant President of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, said that the Exchange Fund has invested in green bonds as early as possible. Now the entire green and ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) investment strategies have been integrated into the Exchange Fund’s investment strategy. Similarly, green bonds will be chosen; cooperation with the mainland will also be promoted in the future, and investment in more cross-border green bonds will not be ruled out.
Green Finance and Bonds Green Finance Authority