Standard Chartered has issued its first-ever Social Bond, which will support the sustainable development of low-income countries across the bank’s emerging market footprint.

The €1bn offering will primarily facilitate lending to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), finance access to essential services including healthcare and education and will facilitate investment into affordable basic infrastructure and food security, in line with the social activities set out in the Bank’s Sustainability Bond Framework.

Marisa Drew, chief sustainability officer said: “This first social bond issuance underscores our commitment to people, communities and businesses, and provides a unique opportunity to mobilise capital at scale towards inclusive growth and development across our markets. The fact that 99 per cent of our social assets are located in Asia, Africa and the Middle East is a differentiating factor for us as an organisation and enables us to offer clients a dynamic sustainability proposition to jointly drive impact across our footprint.”

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