Credit: LuxSE
On Monday 29 April 2024, Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) announced that, one year after listing the first Sub-Saharan Africa gender bond, Tanzania-based NMB Bank returned to the exchange with East Africa’s first sustainability bond.
During an official visit by NMB Bank Plc representatives to the LuxSE last Friday 26 April 2024, the two institutions celebrated the listing of the Tanzania-based bank’s dual-currency sustainability bond on LuxSE. Known as the NMB Jamii bond, meaning “community” in Swahili, the bond aims to deliver positive environmental and social impacts to the communities in which customers, employees, shareholders and all stakeholders of the bank live. The Jamii bond is displayed on the Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX), the world’s leading platform for sustainable securities.
“Mobilising financing for sustainable development in Africa has become a key priority for our exchange. We are delighted to mark this landmark sustainability bond listing with NMB, and we are committed to continuing in our shared mission of fostering sustainable finance in the region and contributing to closing the funding gap,” said Julie Becker, CEO of LuxSE.
The bond comprises a USD tranche and a TZS tranche and raised a total of approximately $157 million. The proceeds of the bond will be used to strengthen resilience against climate change and for investments in renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, gender equality and youth empowerment, among other key social and environmental projects, LuxSE highlighted.
Financing an inclusive transition
NMB Bank is one of the largest commercial banks in Tanzania and has been instrumental in the country’s socio-economic development for 26 years. The bank has implemented initiatives that contribute to the Tanzania National Development Plan 2025/2050 and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals within the fields of the green and blue economy, agriculture, education, health, gender equality and industrialisation.
NMB’s CEO, Ruth Zaipuna, commented: “The issuance of the first Gender Bond in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022, the NMB Jasiri Bond, and now the first sustainability bond in East Africa, the NMB Jamii Bond, that we are cross-listing today at the LuxSE and LGX, attest to our commitment of advancing sustainable development and promoting responsible investment practices, with the assurance of rigorous impact assessment and transparent reporting.”
Ms Zaipuna also added: “Being a domestic bond with both retail and institutional investors’ participation, the NMB Jamii bond has provided investment opportunities for retailers to invest and trade in the bond in the lower denomination. This has not only stimulated the development of our local capital markets but also provided the much-needed financial inclusion and access.”
The sustainability bond, which is dual-listed on LuxSE and the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) in Tanzania’s capital city, will finance eligible projects set out in the bank’s Sustainable Financing Framework, published in August 2023.
The bond was met with strong demand from both local and international investors, with leading development finance institutions such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the Netherlands’ FMO and the UK’s British International Investment (BII) having made significant investments in the Jamii bond.
Gender finance beyond borders
On 8 March 2023, LuxSE celebrated International Women’s Day by marking the admission of the NMB Bank’s gender bond on LuxSE and LGX. Known as the “Jasiri” bond, signifying “brave” in Swahili, the gender bond was NMB Bank’s inaugural social bond issuance and raised the equivalent of $32 million.
The bond made history as the first-ever gender bond issued in Sub-Saharan Africa, and the proceeds of the bond provided nearly 3,000 women in Tanzania with access to the financing necessary to start or grow their own businesses.
More information on the NMB Bank’s sustainability bond is available at: www.luxse.com/issuer/NMBBank/111754
