2219 4321
KK 1004
對全球及未來一代而言，氣候變化是最嚴重的威脅之一，全球日益關注當中涉及的風險，「綠色金融」（Green Finance）亦開始走入公眾視線，其中綠色債券（Green Bond）便是常見的金融工具。中國自2016年起連續四年成為綠色債券發行量最大的國家，而現時全球的金融中心在推動綠色債券上亦不遺餘力，站在發展前沿的香港亦不例外，特區政府除了積極發行綠色債券外，還致力推出不同的便利措施，吸引企業來港籌集資金，包括參與可持續發展並具有環境效益的投資。然而，綠色金融到底是解決全球暖化的關鍵，還是只是隨波逐流、迎合金融業趨勢的工具？兩者之間又該怎樣取得平衡？
Prof. Dragon Tang, Area Head of Finance, shares his views on the relationship between HSBC & China.
The research study co-authored by Prof. Dragon Tang, Area Head of Finance and Yupu Zhang, research postgraduate student, is covered by Advisor News.
The green bond market has been growing rapidly worldwide since its debut in 2007. We present the first empirical study on the announcement returns and real effects of green bond issuance by firms in 28 countries during 2007–2017. After compiling a comprehensive international green bond dataset, we document that stock prices positively respond to green bond issuance. However, we do not find a consistently significant premium for green bonds, suggesting that the positive stock returns around green bond announcements are not fully driven by the lower cost of debt. Nevertheless, we show that institutional ownership, especially from domestic institutions, increases after the firm issues green bonds. Moreover, stock liquidity significantly improves upon the issuance of green bonds. Overall, our findings suggest that the firm's issuance of green bonds is beneficial to its existing shareholders.
The rise of credit default swaps (CDS) provides creditors with a market-based approach to obtaining protection, but it can also affect lenders' monitoring of the borrowers. We find that after CDS begin trading on a given firm, new loans to that firm are less likely to require collateral and have less strict financial covenants, even controlling for endogeneity. The effects are stronger when lenders have easier access to CDS, for safer firms, credit lines, and performance-based covenants. Our evidence is consistent with the theory that the introduction of CDS trading makes loan contracting more effective for better quality borrowers.
Demand for green bonds has grown in leaps and bounds since the market was launched in 2007. Beyond the important environmental projects they fund, they also bring benefits to shareholders.
