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IFR Japan ESG Roundtable 2021

Welcome to the Refinitiv LPC/IFR Japan ESG Roundtable. The event, held online on October 27, drew strong interest with more than 700 market participants registering to view and listen to the webcast. Representatives from the three Japanese mega banks – Mizuho Bank, MUFG and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp – a couple of borrowers and a ratings agency made up the panel to discuss the trends and outlook for environmental, social and governance financings, with a particular focus on loans.

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IFR Japan ESG Roundtables 2021: Participants

Tadahiro Kaneko General Manager – Sustainable Business, SMBC Tadahiro Kaneko is general manager of the sustainable business promotion department of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp and leads the group globally to explore business opportunities associated to clients’ ESG initiatives. He joined SMBC in 1992 and has many years of experience with institutional investors, including as head of the group’s investor relations and regulatory capital funding department from 2009 to 2013. Prior to his current position, he was GM of the bank’s distribution...

IFR Japan ESG Roundtable 2021: Part 1

Wakako Sato, Refinitiv LPC: Welcome to the ESG roundtable webcast. My name is Wakako Sato and I’m a correspondent at Refinitiv LPC. I’m pleased to moderate the panel discussion today. I would like to express my thanks to sponsors Mizuho Bank, MUFG and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. The theme of today’s discussion is ESG finance in Japan, a hot topic as evident from the 728 people registered for the webcast. Within ESG finance, we will focus particularly on loans with our panellists being representatives of borrowers, banks and ratings agencies...

IFR Japan ESG Roundtable 2021: Part 2

Wakako Sato, Refinitiv LPC: I would like to ask Mr Kaneko of SMBC, what trends do you see with reference to the borrower industry breakdown? what trends do you see? Also, a wide range of investors is participating; could you please tell us something about these trends? Tadahiro Kaneko, SMBC: Let me start with the types of industries that borrowers are coming from. Conventionally, renewable energy-related project finance has been the main driver. Especially from last year, I think the numbers are remarkable, but from there, types of industries...

IFR Japan ESG Roundtable 2021: Part 3

Wakako Sato, Refinitiv LPC: As a frontrunner in the market that completed the first deal, I think you have done a great job. Speaking of being the first, this summer Mr Ito of Marubeni also procured Japan’s first green loan for hydroelectric power generation. Could you tell us about the background to this project, and what were the strengths and challenges? Naoki Ito, Marubeni: To tell you a bit about the background of Tottori hydroelectric power generation, which we call Tottori PFI, local governments in each prefecture in Japan have corporate...