As a result of successful IIB bond placement in the local Hungarian currency amounting to HUF 24.7 bn (approximately EUR 79 mln equivalent), the Bank’s debt instruments have undergone a listing on the Budapest Stock Exchange and have been admitted to trading.

An official ceremony took place on March 27, 2019 and traditionally began with ringing the stock exchange bell. International Investment Bank was represented by First Deputy Chairperson of the Management Board Jozef Kollar, who is responsible for funding and treasury operations of the Bank.

Mr. Kollar outlined “IIB sees promotion of national capital markets development in member states as an important part of its mission as a multilateral development bank. We plan to continue issuing instruments in local currencies of our shareholder countries”.

First Deputy Chairperson of the IIB Management Board also reminded that one of the results of the Bank’s successful operations and proof of a well-chosen development strategy is a recent credit rating upgrade to A- from S&P Global, which played an important factor in the bond placement.

Addressing the event participants State Secretary of the Hungarian Finance Ministry Gabor Gion stressed the significance of the event since it helps to underline the attractiveness of the local capital market and increases the importance of the country as a key regional financial centre. “IIB consistently builds its operations in accordance with best practice and standards of international development institutions that is noted by all leading rating agencies”, Gion said.

President and Chief Executive Officer of the Budapest Stock Exchange Richard Vegh expressed an opinion that bond placement of IIB – the first international financial institution to issue debt instruments under local Hungarian legislation – will play a vital role in the Stock Exchange strategy implementation aimed at expansion of foreign and international issuers. He also stressed that the Bank’s Headquarters relocation to Budapest will open new opportunities for the Hungarian economy and will make the national businesses access to international capital markets easier.

Currently IIB bonds are traded at stock exchanges in Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Moscow, Prague and Vienna. Raised resources are used by the Bank to expand its lending and investment activity in the interest of all member states.