Societe Generale has announced the creation of a consolidated 'Sustainable and Positive Impact Finance' offering within the global banking & investor solutions activities which incorporates the bank's Environmental & Social (E&S) expertise into a wide range of innovative financial solutions that satisfy the environmental and social requirements and challenges of its issuer and investor clients.
The initiative to deploy the new offering via the bank's corporate & investment banking, asset management, private banking and investor services is initiative is fully in line with the Group's Social & Environmental Responsibility (SRI) policy, according to Pierre Palmieri (pictured), head of global finance, who will lead the bank's "Sustainable and Positive Impact Finance" initiative, in addition to his current responsibilities.
In this capacity, Palmieri's role will be to coordinate the entire client offering as developed within the different businesses to guarantee its consistency and promote its development.
The French bank is seeking to strengthen its position 'to remain at the forefront' in the area of Sustainable and Positive Impact Finance and pursue the expansion of its offering to its clients in response to the 'necessary funding of Sustainable Development Goals as defined by the United Nations, thereby supporting the positive impact of its clients' activities'.
The French bank highlighted a number of recent key facts and figures of its activity in this segment around various initiatives including capital markets, corporate financing, research and asset management.
From an investment solutions perspective, Societe Generale has created a product range for clients to invest in a structured note while promoting positive impact financing. Thus, for any subscription, the bank promises to maintain on its books a positive impact financing amount equivalent to 100% of the face value of these products. To date, about €200m have already been subscribed.
Sandrine Enguehard, head of positive impact structuring Societe Generale CIB, said that the banks will work "very closely" with its clients to respond to their needs while the Positive Impact structured notes range will help support the bank's Positive Impact Finance engagement.
"We have the structuring and manufacturing capabilities to customise and tailor to a client's specific investment needs," said Enguehard. "This external demand from investors and clients is now driving most of our activity around the development of ESG products. When clients invest in a positive impact finance note, Societe Generale commits to finance the equivalent amount of positive impact projects fully aligned with UNEP-FI Principles for positive impact finance."
Societe Generale launched in the summer a structured bond in Italy which has a USD$50m nominal capacity and a US$2,000 minimum investment. The product will pay annual coupons of 1% for the first two years, and a variable coupon linked to the performance of the Finvex Ethical & Efficient Europe 30 Price at maturity. SG has marketed 26 ESG-linked structured products in Europe, including 17 offering exposure to the Finvex Ethical & Efficient Europe 30, eight to the Finvex Sustainable & Efficient Europe 30, and one featuring the Finvex Sustainable & Efficient USA 30 Index.
The bank issued eight green bonds in 2016, totalling €6bn, a number that has more than doubled in 2017 on the back of 17 new sustainable bond issues. Over the past four years, Societe Generale has increased its volume of new positive impact financing by a factor of x3.5, and is committed to doubling its project financing in the renewable energy sector and mobilising up to €10bn by 2020.
Societe Generale also said that its asset management arm, Lyxor, is the only European supplier to offer exchange traded funds (ETFs) that match up with four of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, i.e. the water and renewable energy sectors, initiatives to fight climate change with an ETF on Green Bonds, and, more recently, a new ETF on gender equality.
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