SEC Launches Guidelines on Green Bonds Issuance

• SEC Launches Guidelines on Green Bonds Issuance

The Securities and Exchange Commission has launched guidelines on green bonds issuance.

SEC said it partnered the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange and the Financial Sector Deepening Africa on the green bonds market development programme to support the development of a non-sovereign green bond market in Nigeria.

According to a statement issued by SEC on Monday, the new guidelines were launched on Sunday, following a series of engagements with stakeholders and capital market operators.

It said the green bonds market development programme would provide training for regulators, investors and intermediaries on green bonds as part of efforts to create an enabling environment for issuers and other stakeholders.

The statement said this would allow stakeholders to take advantage of the opportunities that green bonds offered.

The Acting Director-General, SEC, Ms Mary Uduk, while speaking at the launch of the new rules, stated that there was an urgent need to close the country’s infrastructure gap with investments in sustainable finance initiatives as the country was striving to harness the resources of non-oil sectors to anchor the transition to a more resilient economy.

She described the launch of the new rules as a significant step in furthering the complementary efforts of the government, regulators and the financial services industry to direct financial capital to more sustainable economic activity.

The Director of Financial Markets, FSD Africa, Dr Evans Osano, said, “We laud SEC Nigeria for the professional and quick turnaround in the preparation of the guidelines.

“The new guidelines are prepared in line with leading international guidelines and standards providing confidence to domestic and international investors. It also provides certainty to issuers of green bonds in Nigeria.”

Osano noted that FSD Africa was pleased to have supported the process, describing it as a milestone for the Nigeria green bonds market.