Hong Kong highlights its role as a green bond hub for mainland firms
- More than 50 mainland banks and businesses representing diverse range of industries are invited to Hong Kong to learn more about debt issuance
- Hong Kong saw the issuance of green bonds totalling over US$8 billion in the first nine months of last year
Hong Kong and mainland Chinese finance regulators have joined forces to promote the city as a green finance hub, inviting dozens of mainland companies to explore the benefits of fundraising with a view to ethical and social benefits.
More than 50 mainland banks and businesses have been invited for a three-day visit to Hong Kong.
Officials from the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, the People’s Bank of China and the Green Finance Association will brief them on how they can tap the city’s financial infrastructure for cheaper foreign-currency financing.
“[The regulators] provide a lot of information to the potential issuers, while we provide the Hong Kong perspective on what the institutional investors are looking for and how underwriters can help,” said Ma Jun, chairman of the Hong Kong Green Finance Association.
The invited firms include banks from eastern and southern cities and provinces, and companies in diverse industries, including new energy, water treatment, transit development, electric vehicles, agriculture, and desertification prevention and reversal.
Hong Kong saw the issuance of green bonds totalling over US$8 billion in the first nine months of last year, up “strongly” year on year, according to the HKMA. Mainland issuance rose 6 per cent to US$38 billion last year from 2017, Ma said.