{"id":155127,"date":"2026-03-12T16:26:37","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T23:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=155127"},"modified":"2026-03-12T16:26:37","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T23:26:37","slug":"ndb-raises-sri-lankas-largest-basel-iii-compliant-thematic-bond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2026\/03\/12\/ndb-raises-sri-lankas-largest-basel-iii-compliant-thematic-bond\/","title":{"rendered":"NDB Raises Sri Lanka\u2019s Largest Basel III-Compliant Thematic Bond"},"content":{"rendered":"

National Development Bank PLC<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

National Development Bank PLC (NDB\/ the Bank) recently announced that it successfully raised LKR 16.0 billion through the issuance of Basel III-compliant Tier II Rated Unsecured Subordinated Redeemable GSS+ Bonds (the GSS+ Bonds), to be listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). This issuance marks a major milestone in thematic fundraising within Sri Lanka\u2019s capital markets landscape, signaling the country\u2019s growing progress in the increasingly important segment of sustainable finance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GSS+ Bonds issue opened on 10 March 2026 and was oversubscribed within the same day, demonstrating strong demand from both retail and institutional investors. This response reaffirms the confidence investors place in NDB and its overall financial strength and stability. The issuance of the GSS+ Bonds reflects the Bank\u2019s strong environmental and social considerations embedded in its lending practices. For many years, NDB has maintained a robust Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS) ensuring that funds are directed toward environmentally and socially responsible projects and causes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NDB\u2019s GSS+ Bonds will be deployed to finance eligible Green (including Blue), Social, Sustainability, and Sustainability-Linked projects, supporting environmentally responsible, socially impactful, and sustainable economic development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commending the landmark issuance, the Bank\u2019s Director\/ Chief Executive Officer Mr. Kelum Edirisinghe stated that: <\/strong>NDB\u2019s sustainability journey goes back to its founding years when it was originally set up as a development finance institution that channeled funding from development finance institutions. From the outset, environmental and social considerations have been an integral part of NDB\u2019s DNA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This issuance marks a significant step forward in the Bank\u2019s sustainable finance journey and strengthens its commitment to advancing its ESG agenda, while supporting Sri Lanka\u2019s national climate and social development objectives. The Bank has been a key contributor to the renewable energy generation sector of the country, and since 2004 has funded close to 20% of the country\u2019s renewable energy generation capacity. The initiative also contributes toward several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), he further stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to providing financing, the Bank intends to play a proactive role in promoting these funding avenues amongst its clients, by advising and supporting businesses in transitioning toward more environmentally and socially responsible practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I take the opportunity to thank our investors in the said issuance for their trust and confidence placed in us, and to our regulators in facilitating issuances of this nature for the overall betterment of the industry and the country at large and to all our service providers in the said issuance for their support and co-operation extended to make this feat possible\u201d, he concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GSS+ Bond issuance was completed with the approval of relevant regulators, including the CSE. The issuance is based on the Bank\u2019s GSS+ Bond Framework, developed in line with the relevant principles of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) and the Sri Lanka Green Finance Taxonomy issued by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The framework has been independently verified by Deloitte Partners, which acts as the Independent External Reviewer for the GSS+ Bond issuance. Deloitte Partners will continue in this role by verifying the deployment of funds raised through the GSS+ Bond into eligible sectors as outlined in the framework.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sole Manager and Financial Advisor to the GSS+ Bond issuance was NDB Investment Bank Limited, a 99.9%-owned subsidiary of NDB. The Trustee to the issue is People’s Bank, while the Registrar is SSP Corporate Services Pvt Ltd. Internally, NDB\u2019s Transaction Banking Unit, Legal Department, and Company Secretariat functioned as the Bankers, Lawyers, and Secretaries whilst Messrs Ernst & Young acted as the Auditors and Reporting Accountants to the GSS+ Bond issuance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

National Development Bank PLC National Development Bank PLC (NDB\/ the Bank) recently announced that it successfully raised LKR 16.0 billion through the issuance of Basel III-compliant Tier II Rated Unsecured Subordinated Redeemable GSS+ Bonds (the GSS+ Bonds), to be listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). This issuance marks a major milestone in thematic fundraising within Sri Lanka\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155127"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155127\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155128,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155127\/revisions\/155128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}