Columbia Threadneedle's Bond: Social bond issuance set for 'exponential' growth

Capitalising on record 2020 inflows

The social bond market is set for "exponential" growth in issuance volume, following a record 2020 which saw $165.7bn of instruments brought to market, according to Columbia Threadneedle's Simon Bond, who expects the annual volume of issuance to soon match that of the green bond market.

Bond, who serves as director of responsible investment portfolio management and fund manager of the firm's £1.5bn Social Bond fund range, said there is "tremendous scope" for issuance growth from sovereigns and corporates, as the world tackles a plethora of social problems. UK Government borrowed extra $589bn in 2020 to run the world's largest budget deficit during the pandemic Last year saw $505.8bn of "specific use of proceeds issuance", which encompasses social bonds, green bonds and sustainability bonds, according to Bloomberg data. This included an 894% year-on-year growth in ...