Bank of added value

With its new financing instrument, the Green Loan for Social Housing Associations, BNG is encouraging social housing associations to explicitly take sustainability into account in their investment decisions in order to make their social and mid-range rental homes more sustainable. Social housing associations that meet predetermined sustainability criteria receive a one-off ‘green bonus’. The loan can be used in both WSW-guaranteed (Social Housing Guarantee Fund) and unsecured financing arrangements.

This coalition agreement rightly identifies societal ambitions that each require immediate implementation. The challenges in housing and the energy transition are particularly substantial and require speed, scale and financial capacity. BNG therefore supports the coalition’s ambition to deliver many more affordable homes and to keep climate goals on track. We see a clear role for ourselves in this effort and actively make our public financing power available.

In the first issuance week of January, BNG took advantage of constructive USD-market conditions to successfully issue a new USD 2 billion 10-year benchmark. The transaction gained strong momentum from the outset, generating Indications of Interest (“IOIs”) in excess of USD 3.1bn. The orderbook continued to build steadily throughout the process, reaching a final book size of USD 7.9bn excluding Joint Lead Manager interest.

The Collective Heat Act (Wet collectieve warmte) was adopted by the Dutch Senate in early December last year. Municipalities will play a central role in designating and operating district heating networks. BNG aims to support municipalities in the transition to affordable, non fossil heating. To this end, BNG has commissioned the development of a memorandum that provides public authorities with practical and legal guidance to support investments in district heating networks and thereby accelerate the energy transition through public financing.