Refinancing Business
Our green refinancing products complement our green lending activities, enabling us to offer products for ESG-oriented customers on the liabilities side in addition to products on the assets side. Our eligibility criteria for products on the liabilities side and their categorisation as "green" are the same as in our "Green Finance Framework - Lending". The "Green Finance Framework - Liabilities" was subjected to a second party opinion by Sustainalytics and categorised as "credible and impactful". Our internal Green Finance Committee (GFC) manages and monitors the green asset pool for backing green issues.
Below you will find the relevant documents and frameworks in this context:
Aareal Green Finance Framework – Liabilities
Second Party Opinion
- Second-Party Opinion Aareal Green Finance Framework - Liabilities 2023
- Sustainalytics Annual Review Report Aareal Bank 2022
- Second-Party Opinion - Aareal Bank Green Finance Framework - Liabilities 2021
Allocation Reporting
Our sound Pfandbrief and senior unsecured issues that make up our funding activities, and the attractive investment opportunities that we create
Aareal Bank has a broad, sound base for its refinancing requirements. We have established ourselves as an active issuer of Pfandbriefe, which account for a major share of our long-term funding. Pfandbrief issuance is governed by the German Pfandbrief Act (Pfandbriefgesetz – PfandBG), whose strict provisions are focused in particular on investor protection. This means that Pfandbriefe are a particularly sound investment with a proven market infrastructure – something that remains true even in uncertain times. Their excellent credit ratings are valued by investors in Germany and abroad.
The AAA rating awarded to these Pfandbriefe by Moody's confirms the quality of Aareal Bank's mortgage cover assets pool and our Pfandbriefe and senior unsecured bonds are also recommended as investments by imug/Vigeo Eiris from a sustainability perspective. The diversification strategy used in commercial property financing can be seen among other things from the geographical distribution of the cover assets pool. For example, Aareal Bank’s mortgage Pfandbrief is one of the most highly diversified covered bonds in the world.
Deposits by the housing industry and institutional money market investors are another source of refinancing. These are largely independent of the capital markets and represent an important additional pillar in the Bank’s long-term funding mix.
Since 2012, we have regularly subjected Aareal Bank Group’s securities portfolio to a sustainability analysis, in order to track our progress. Most recently it was conducted in June 2018. The independent rating agency oekom research came to the conclusion that the issuers listed in our securities portfolio achieve best-in-class status on average. Exclusion criteria set by us are also considered in the analysis – including human rights violations, child labour, press freedom and freedom of expression.
