The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (the HKSAR Government) today (February 7) announced the successful offering of around HK$6 billion worth of digital green bonds (Digital Green Bonds) denominated in HK dollars (HKD), Renminbi (RMB), US dollars (USD) and euro (EUR) under the Government Green Bond Programme.
The two-year Digital Green Bonds attracted subscriptions by a wide spectrum of institutional investors globally, from financial institutions (FI) (including major asset managers, banks, insurance companies, and private banks) to non-FI corporates. The Digital Green Bonds were priced as follows:
HKD2 billion tranche at 3.800%
RMB1.5 billion tranche at 2.900%
USD200 million tranche at 4.749%
EUR80 million tranche at 3.647%
This is the second digital bond issuance following the HKSAR Government's inaugural tokenized green bond issued in February 2023. The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) completed Project Genesis in 2021 in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements Innovation Hub Hong Kong Centre to concept-test the issuance of tokenized green bonds in Hong Kong. This issuance further developed based on Project Genesis and achieved breakthroughs in the following areas:
Broadening investor participation via existing market infrastructure: Facilitated by the Central Moneymakers Unit's (CMU) external linkages, international investors can access the Digital Green Bonds via their accounts with Euroclear or Clearstream. This broadens the bond's investor base, enhances liquidity, and facilitates interoperability across digital asset platforms and traditional central securities depositories.
Streamlining the issuance process by issuing in digitally native format, without first issuing in traditional central securities depositories and converting the bond into digital format.
Building in standardization elements, by adopting the International Capital Market Association's Bond Data Taxonomy (Note 1) (BDT), a standardized and machine-readable language that was developed to promote market efficiency and cross-system interoperability. This was the first issuance by an issuer of the relevant category and the first green bond to adopt the BDT.
Integrating green bond disclosures with digital assets platform: Key green bond documentation, including the issuer's Green Bond Framework and relevant third-party review reports, can be viewed on the digital asset platform, enhancing transparency and accessibility of information.
The Financial Secretary, Mr Paul Chan, said, "The Government has once again issued digital green bonds this year, incorporating various technological innovations. This demonstrates Hong Kong's strengths and leadership in combining the bond market, green and sustainable finance, and fintech. We will continue to promote innovation and application of fintech, explore new technologies to enhance the efficiency, transparency, and security of financial transactions, and foster vibrant development in various financial market sectors."
The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Mr Christopher Hui, said, "The second issuance of digital green bonds demonstrates the Government's continuous support to innovative forms of bond issuances and green transformation. We are confident that this issuance will further entrench the social awareness of sustainable development in combination with fintech and consolidate Hong Kong's status as a leading green and sustainable finance hub."
The Chief Executive of the HKMA, Mr Eddie Yue, said, "Building on the success of the inaugural digital bond offering last year, we are delighted to bring another landmark issuance to the market. This second digital issuance includes multiple innovations that broaden investor access, support interoperability, and improve transparency and efficiency. We hope this issuance will promote the development of the digital securities market and encourage the wider adoption of digitalization technology."
The clearing and settlement system of the Digital Green Bonds is the CMU, with HSBC Orion as the digital assets platform. This represents the world's first multi-currency digital bond offering and the first digitally native bond issuance in Hong Kong. HSBC, Bank of China (Hong Kong), Crédit Agricole CIB, Goldman Sachs (Asia) L.L.C, ICBC (Asia), UBS, Allen & Overy, Ashurst, and Linklaters were involved in the preparation for the issuance (see Annex).
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