First Abu Dhabi Bank is first in Middle East with 'green bond' in Swiss francs
FAB's green bonds to date have been in dollars or HK cuurency
Dubai: First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) has priced the first 'green bond' deal from a MENA issuer in Swiss francs. The 260 million six-year bond was priced at 0.068 per cent, which is inside FAB’s outstanding Swiss francs curve and on a dollar basis swaps to a level inside its current greenback curve too.
This is the bank's fifth green bond issuance after having issued in dollars and Hong Kong dollars before and now in Swiss francs. This issuance also reiterates FAB’s commitment to sustainable finance, "having now issued more green bonds than any other financial issuer from the MENA," the bank said in a statement.
Rula Al Qadi, Managing Director and Head of Group Funding, said: “Not only was the issuance a success in terms of size and pricing objectives achieved, but this was targeted to green investors who made up more than 60 per cent of the books thereby diversifying our funding base further. FAB is committed to green and sustainable finance, having now issued green bonds in three different currencies, and will continue to issue in this format opportunistically.”