HF Honored as the Best Issuer for Sustainable Finance and for the Best Covered Bond

 - The Asset recognizes HF for issuing Asia’s first AAA social covered bonds

Korea Housing Finance Corporation (HF, CEO Lee Jung-Hwan) announced on January 17, 2020, that it was named the Best Issuer for Sustainable Finance and honored for the Best Covered Bond at The Asset Triple A Country Awards 2019.

The Asset, one of the World’s leading financial publications, held its annual awards on the 16th (local time) to celebrate outstanding achievements by financial institutions in the Asia-Pacific region. 

The Asset stated that it recognized HF for issuing the world’s first social MBS from last March and 500 million euros of Asia’s first AAA social covered bonds (bonds with dual recourse)* in June. 

    * Covered bonds are debt securities issued by a financial institution, which are secured by a pool of mortgages or other prime assets. Covered bonds provide investors with both recourse against the issuer and a preferential claim against the underlying cover pool over third-party claims. 

An HF official said, “We are pleased to see that our covered bonds are highly regarded for their optimal legal and structural stability. HF will continue our efforts to stimulate the socially responsible investment market.”

As part of its efforts to take the lead in creating social value, HF issued KRW 2.4 trillion of social MBS last year, providing 85% of the nation’s won-denominated SRI bonds*. 

   * SRI Bonds: Bonds whose proceeds are used to fund socially responsible projects