BDO expands sustainable finance framework

MANILA, Philippines — Sy-led BDO Unibank Inc. (BDO) has expanded its sustainable finance framework (SFF) to support a wider range of projects with high economic, environmental and social benefits through its bond issuances.

The expanded SFF includes gender financing and 19 additional categories under green, blue, orange and social financing.

These categories are aligned with international and local bond principles, guidelines and taxonomies as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

“The expanded SFF will allow BDO to finance more projects with high economic, environmental and social benefits through its bond issuances, contributing to ecological sustainability, ocean, health, community development and women’s empowerment,” the bank said.

Meanwhile, BDO received an updated second party opinion (SPO) from Morningstar Sustainalytics, a firm that provides analytical environmental, social and governance (ESG) research, ratings and data to institutional investors and companies.

The bank said receiving an updated SPO from Sustainalytics affirmed the credibility of BDO’s sustainable finance framework.

The SPO is aligned with the Sustainability Bond Guidelines (2021) and Green Bond Principles (2021). It is also in line with the Social Bond and Loan Principles (2023), Green and Social Loan Principles (2023), as well as the ASEAN Sustainability, Social and Green Bond Standards (2018).

In July, BDO raised P55.7 billion from its recent bond issuance, as retail and institutional investors swarmed the bank’s third foray into the ASEAN sustainability bond market. The amount was more than 11 times oversubscribed from the original size of P5 billion.

BDO also raised a record P63.3 billion from its second bond issuance of ASEAN sustainability bonds in January. It was nearly 12.7 times higher than the original size of P5 billion.

The bank’s maiden issuance of the peso-denominated ASEAN sustainability bonds was in January 2022, where it successfully raised P52.7 billion amid high demand from investors.

BDO, the largest bank in terms of total assets, loans, deposits and trust funds under management, has over 1,700 consolidated operating branches and more than 5,500 ATMs nationwide.

It also has 16 international offices, including full-service branches in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East.