The award is given to an SSA, Sovereigns, Supranational, and Agencies, borrower that is active in international and local SSA bond markets, offering a full range of products, in private and public format, in multiple currencies across the yield curve and to the broadest range of SSA ESG bond investors. CMD Portal is an independent collaborative market data network for bond and money market professionals.
CMD Portal praised MuniFin for our long-term commitment to sustainability. In October, one highlight on our ESG path, was the publication of the new Sustainability Agenda with clear long-term objectives for our sustainability efforts. The agenda sets two main themes: supporting the Finnish welfare society and accelerating Finland’s green transition through our financing, for which we source funds with our sustainable bonds.
“Our customers play a significant role in achieving Finland’s climate goals. Therefore, we aim for at least one-third of long-term customer financing to be green and social finance by 2030. The most notable change compared to our previous initiatives, is that we set reduction targets for financed buildings. Our goal is to achieve a reduction to 8 kgCO2 per m2 by 2035 and our green finance plays a vital role in achieving this target”, says Sustainability Analyst Mikko Noronen from MuniFin’s Funding and Sustainability team.
On the sustainable bonds front, the year had two successful issuances. In February, MuniFin issued a record-sized EUR 1 billion green bond, which was the largest ever EUR denominated green bond by a Nordic SSA issuer. It was quickly nearly twice oversubscribed and 80% of the high-quality orderbook was allocated to ESG investors. Another highlight was the successful USD 100 million social bond in August, which was issued as a private placement.
“The past year continued to be successful on the ESG front and we are extremely happy for this recognition. We aim to maintain our presence in the sustainable bonds market also next year when we are planning to issue EUR 9 –10 billion of new long-term funding. The sizes of our sustainable bonds will depend on the development of the customer financing portfolio”, says Senior Manager Karoliina Kajova from MuniFin’s Funding team.
MuniFin also wins runner-up for the Best ESG Issuer Award. Our active presence and successful issuances have been acknowledged by CMD Portal also before. In April, MuniFin’s record-size green bond earned the TopDeal acknowledgement, and in January, MuniFin earned the award of the Best Structured Notes Issuer, which was the third year in a row for this recognition.
MuniFin is Finland’s pioneer in sustainable finance
In 2016, MuniFin was the first financial institution in Finland to offer green finance for climate and environmentally friendly projects and was the first Finnish issuer of green bonds.
In 2020, MuniFin became the first financial institution in Finland to issue social bonds, which is offered to projects that promote equality, communality, safety, welfare, or regional vitality.
These bonds are an integral part of our funding strategy. Both green and social bonds have their own frameworks.
Read more
MuniFin issues a record-breaking EUR 1 billion green bond
Further information
Antti Kontio – Head of Funding and Sustainability
+358 50 3700 285
Mikko Noronen – Sustainability Analyst, Funding and Sustainability
+358 50 479 7533
Karoliina Kajova – Senior Manager, Funding
+358 50 5767 707
Lari Toppinen – Senior Analyst, Funding
+358 50 4079 300
Aaro Koski – Analyst, Funding
+358 45 138 7465