Ahren Lester

ING: SLB market 'reinvigoration' awaits after initial 'exuberance' evaporates

The contrasting experience of the sustainability-linked loan and bond issuance continued in 2024, but ING said more quality data and "realistic" target approaches should see loan market continue to grow and bonds to finally begin to reverse declines.

First EU green bond of 2025 attracts €69bn orderbook

'SLB issuers should use SBTi-validated targets', says LuxSE

Sustainability-linked bond (SLB) issuers have been encouraged by Luxembourg Stock Exchange (LuxSE) to use science-based targets to enhance the "credibility" of the issuances, ...

SLBs: 'Flight to quality' amid complexity challenge could be a positive

The underappreciated complexity of the sustainability-linked bond (SLB) has played a major role in the issuance decline in recent years, but...

ING: CSRD struggles feeding 'exceptionally high' sleeping SLL activity

ING saw an "exceptionally high" number of 'sleeping' sustainability-linked loans (SLLs) in 2024, as corporates struggled to deal with the forthcoming EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requirements.

'Sovereigns should use ASCOR for SLBs'

The assessment framework could help bring credibility to the nascent market. Ahren Lester reports

'Big four' SPO providers becomes 'big five' in 2024

Japan-focused Rating and Investment Information (R&I) secured more than a 10% share of the sustainable finance second-party opinion market in 2024, joining the global 'big four' US providers led by Sustainalytics and S&P Global.

South Korea readies sovereign green bond market return in 2026

South Korea is planning to issue a green bond in 2026 following investor engagement, according to a senior government official - five years after the sovereign was last active in the market.

'SLBs can be the right tool for impact investing' urge investors

Sustainability-linked bonds (SLBs) have the potential to be valuable impact investing tools and regulations in Europe could be building the right "home" for the performance-based instrument,...

KEPCO drops sustainable bond label from US dollar issuance

South Korean utility firm Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) has launched its first US dollar-denominated bond transaction without a sustainable bond label in years,...