Access Bank to Sell N150bn Green Bonds by 2021

• Access Bank to Sell N150bn Green Bonds by 2021

Access Bank Plc has revealed plans to sell green bonds totalling N150bn by 2021.

The lender said it was looking to raise $41m in the first quarter this year.

Access Bank, which could create Africa’s largest retail lender by customers with the takeover of Diamond Bank Plc, plans to sell the country’s first corporate green bond to fund environmental projects, a person with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.

The bank planned to raise about N15bn ($41m) in the first quarter for climate-related funds and programmes, the person said, asking not to be identified because the talks were private.

The Federal Government sold the country’s first green bond worth N10.7bn in 2017 and plans to raise as much as N150bn by 2021, according to the Debt Management Office.

A green bond is a bond specifically earmarked to be used for climate and environmental projects.

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil producer, has green bonds as part of the plans to cut emissions and meet its obligations to the Paris agreement on the environment.

The Securities Exchange Commission and the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange launched the Nigerian Green Bond Market Development Programme last year to encourage private companies to sell climate-related debts.