A West African first at Luxembourg Stock Exchange

The first social bond from an issuer in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) has been listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange’s Luxembourg Green Exchange (LGX).

The Caisse Régionale de Refinancement Hypothécaire de l’Union Economique et Monétaire Ouest-Africaine, a regional financial institution based in Togo, listed 60 billion CFA franc (€91 million) in bonds on both the Luxembourg platform and the Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières (BRVM), an exchange based in Côte d’Ivoire, on Monday.

“Through this dual listing, LuxSE reaffirms its commitment to supporting the issuers of Africa to access international capital markets using local currencies and to working together with African exchanges such as BRVM to further the development of sustainable finance in the region,” Julie Becker, CEO of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, said in a press release.

“Exclusively dedicated to financing affordable housing, the bond will refinance residential mortgage portfolios originated by WAEMU banks for low- and moderate-income households,” the announcement stated.

More than 15,000 bonds listed on the LGX have raised more than €1.2 trillion for green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked projects since the platform launched in 2016.