Customer owned bank issues sustainability bond

We’re proud to be the first customer owned bank in Australia to issue a sustainability bond

On 20 August 2018, Bank Australia became the first customer owned bank in Australia to issue a sustainability bond. The three-year, $125 million bond included assets that help achieve three of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, and life on land.

This was the first time that Bank Australia had issued a bond. Making its first issuance a sustainability bond was one way for Bank Australia to use the business of banking to create positive change, says Managing Director Damien Walsh.

“As a growing bank, we needed to start a bond program to help manage our funding,” says Damien. “The question for us was: how can we issue a bond that aligns with our values and meets our customers’ expectation that we lend to projects with a positive impact?

“Bank Australia’s sustainability bond will help us finance more lending with a positive impact,” says Damien. “By issuing a sustainability bond, it also contributes to growing the market for green and social funding in Australia.”

The sustainability bond was developed to align with international Sustainability Bond Guidelines, which give investors confidence that the money they lend Bank Australia is used to finance green or social projects.

The proceeds from this sustainability bond will be used to finance loans including community housing, specialist disability accommodation and mortgages for energy efficient homes with an added environmental offset.