DBS, IIX to list women's livelihood bond on SGX

It has received over 60% of investment capital from Asian investors.

DBS Bank and IIX closed the world’s first social sustainability bond to be listed on SGX within a month, the Women’s Livelihood Bond (WLB). 

The US$8m ($11.1m) bond provides loans to social enterprises and microfinance institutions and expected to impact the livelihoods of more than 385,000 women in Cambodia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

The four-year bond offers a coupon rate of 5.65% per annum and is listed on the Singapore Exchange. The WLB received over 60% of its investment capital from Asian investors, with the majority being high net worth customers of DBS.

The WLB includes a number of credit protection features, including US$500,000 of first-loss capital provided by IIX as well as a 50% guarantee of the principal amount of the underlying loan portfolio, provided by USAID.

In addition to DBS, the WLB is supported by a diverse range of stakeholders from the public, private, and philanthropic sectors such as Shearman & Sterling, Hogan Lovells, the Rockefeller Foundation, U.S Agency for International Development (USAID), the Clinton Global Initiative, ANZ Banking Group, the Japan Research Institute, and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. IIX intends to replicate the WLB across the globe and expects such future bonds to be listed on its Impact Exchange.