OCBC tops 2 regional sustainable finance league tables for 2019

OCBC Bank has topped two 2019 sustainable finance league tables for the Asia-Pacific region, excluding Japan, the lender said in a media statement on Wednesday.

In Bloomberg's 2019 mandated lead arranger (MLA) league table for green loans and renewable energy loans, the Singapore bank was placed first with US$1.01 billion worth of loans across 14 deals as at Dec 18.

The bank hit US$1.26 billion of loans across 15 deals as at Dec 17, to claim top spot in Debtwire's MLA league table for green loans and sustainability-linked loans.

DBS took second spot in Bloomberg's table and sixth in Debtwire's, while UOB did not feature in the top 10 of both lists.

In Bloomberg's ranking, OCBC took a table share of 7.03 and DBS had a 6.26 share.

OCBC took an 8.43 per cent market share for Debtwire's table, while DBS had a 5.89 per cent share. HSBC trailed OCBC in second place with a 6.45 per cent share.

OCBC Bank was the green loan adviser for several major transactions in Singapore including Mapletree Commercial Trust's S$670 million green loan and Hoi Hup's S$332.5 million green loan.

It also participated in several large syndicated sustainability-linked loans in Asia such as Cofco International's US$2.3 billion loan and Louis Dreyfus Company Asia's US$650 million loan.

OCBC announced in October its target to build a sustainable finance portfolio of S$10 billion by 2022. 

The lender said it had in April become the first bank in South-east Asia to pledge to stop financing new coal-fired power plants.

In 2019, OCBC has committed more than S$4 billion to sustainable financing and participated in more than 20 green loans and sustainability-linked loan transactions.

It is financing renewable energy projects, including solar and wind, in Taiwan, China, the UK, Australia and Malaysia.

Green loans, sustainability-linked loans and loans to green projects - such as renewable energy projects and green buildings - are collectively referred to as sustainable finance.

Mike Ng, head of structured finance and sustainable finance at OCBC, said: "In 2019, sustainability has gained significant traction in both the public and private sectors, and sustainable finance has become mainstream.

"We have supported many companies in their sustainability journeys. These customers, like us, understand that they can do well and do good at the same time. It was these partnerships that propelled us to the top of these league tables."