Natixis has been named Most Innovative Investment Bank for Climate & Sustainability at The Banker Awards 2018, receiving the honor in London in early September. This industry recognition applauds our commitment to the fight against global warning and our efforts to promote energy transition, and is also a clear demonstration of Natixis’ aim of becoming a key bank in the green and responsible finance space.

Promoting green innovation via our Green & Sustainable Hub

Natixis’ aim of promoting innovation and supporting our clients in their ecological and social transformation led to the creation of Corporate & Investment Banking’s Green & Sustainable Hub in2017: this approach addresses one of our key priorities for the 2018-2020 period and also supports Groupe BPCE’s overall environmental and social targets.

The hub is made up of various operational experts who work alongside our issuer and investor clients worldwide to offer them a broad cross-business spectrum of green and sustainable finance solutions and expertise:

• investment solution structuring and engineering (equities, fixed income and credit);
• finance structuring and origination (bonds, loans and securitization);
• research and innovation from our analysts within our center of expertise;
• advisory.

Rounding out this set-up, our green captains play the role of ambassadors across each and every business line and act as operational partners for the Green & Sustainable Hub, promoting our green and responsible products and solutions within the company and with clients in Europe and internationally.

Natixis was also recently singled out for first place in the green bonds/ESG category at the Euromoney Fixed Income Research 2018 awards in yet another testimony to our green capabilities.

Clear action to support our clients’ transformation

Natixis is an active member of the Green Bond Principles and has been involved in17 green and/or social bond issues in 2017.

This fresh award particularly applauds the government bond green repack we managed for a European insurer – the market’s first green structured debt security – as well as our range of Equity Climate indices and the first corporate social bond issued by Danone in March 2018 complying with the new social bond principles and worth €300m.

On the French market, Natixis recently acted as green certification agent for the first green-labelled commercial real estate loan with the Climate Bond Certified label as awarded by the Climate Bond Initiative in Europe for the financing of the DUO towers in Paris, which meet exceptional energy performance criteria.

Meanwhile, in the United States, Natixis was involved in the first green-certified CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed security) to finance the acquisition of a LEED Platinum-certified building on New York’s Wall Street.

Orith Azoulay, Head of Natixis’ Green & Sustainable Hub, states “this award is clear recognition of our teams’ expertise in developing innovative green and responsible financing and investment solutions. We are all wholeheartedly committed to pursuing our goal of becoming a key bank in the green space”.