Green, Social and Sustainability Bond Awards 2019

Lead manager of the year, sustainability bonds - US muni: JP Morgan

New York City-based bank JP Morgan has been a vocal supporter of the growing sustainability bond market, and is the fourth-largest lead manager of sustainability bonds.

To date, it has been involved in 14 deals worth a combined $2.1 billion, which places it ahead of other banks such as BNP Paribas, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley, according to Environmental Finance's bond database.

In 2018, it was lead underwriter in three US sustainability muni bond transactions. Each of these issues were by New York City Housing Development Corporation (NYCHDC), to finance mortgage loans for affordable housing.

In 2018, the housing finance agency issued a combined $1.5 billion in Sustainable Neighborhood Bonds (SNBs). Of these transactions, JP Morgan was lead underwriter on deals worth a combined $651 million.

SNBs support Mayor Bill de Blasio's Housing New York Plan to create and preserve 300,000 affordable homes for low-and-middle-income New York citizens by 2026. The bond programme also aims to enhance environmental benefits, with many of the housing developments expected to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

NYCHDC's online reporting includes details on which housing developments that have received financing from the programme have obtained sustainable building accreditations such as LEED.

Since the start of the SNB issuance programme in June 2015, a combined $5.13 billion of the sustainability bonds have been issued.