Another day, another UAE green bond issuance: The Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) has hired banks to arrange its inaugural USD-denominated green bond issuance, Reuters reports, citing a bank document it has seen. A five-year benchmark-sized issuance — usually set at a minimum USD 500 mn — will follow, subject to market conditions, according to the newswire.

Advisors: The document showed that Citibank, Emirates NBD Capital, First Abu Dhabi Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan, Natixis, and Standard Chartered have been hired by CBD for the debut issuance and were asked to hold investor calls this week.

REMEMBER- Interest in green bonds and green sukuk has been on the rise in the region in recent months ahead of COP28 in the UAE. The most recent issuance was by the UAE’s largest bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, which issued a USD 600 mn five-year green bond last week. The issuance was the third successful public issuance in the USD market by the bank and the first by a MENA financial institution this year. In April, the UAE’s state-owned Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) raised an aggregate USD 1.5 bn in a dual-tranche green bond issuance that was almost 10x oversubscribed at a final order under the company’s new Green Finance Framework.