The Women’s Livelihood Bond 1 (WLB1), under the Impact Investment Exchange (IIX), has matured on July 6.
The bond is the world’s first listed gender lens and impact investing instrument. The bond is currently listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX).
The bond provided investors with an annual return of 5.65% from 2017 to 2021. In comparison, Asian high yield corporate bonds yielded some 4% in 2020. Corporate bonds during the year saw yields of 1% to 3%.
The wins come at a time when social bonds are taking off in Asia, with social bond issuances comprising some 23% of the global total as at 2020.
WLB1 is the first issuance of the US$150 million ($201.8 million) Women’s Livelihood Bond Series.
The WLB series comprises innovative debt securities that creates sustainable livelihoods for over three million underserved women across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region and other emerging markets.
The bond’s social targets, including targets for increased financial inclusion and resilience were met or exceeded.
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The WLB1 is the first bond in the award-winning WLB series. It was piloted with the support of partners including The Rockefeller Foundation, DBS, ANZ, United States Agency for International Development, Shearman & Sterling and Hogan Lovells.
“This is history in the making. When we created the world’s first exchange listed financial instrument for women over four years ago, we were faced with a lot of scepticism from financial institutions at the idea of a women-focused financial instrument. They were wrong, and we doubled down on our vision to connect the Back Streets of the world to Wall Street and make the markets work for underserved women,” says Durreen Shahnaz, IIX CEO and founder.
“Our CIO, Robert Kraybill, and I, believed so much in the promise of the WLB1 that we committed our own personal savings to provide the first loss capital in the WLB1. With this vote of confidence, the Bond immediately sold in the market. Four years on, the women never failed us or the investors once, allowing us to make every single payment on time,” Shahnaz adds.
Photo: IIX
