FirstRand Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of financial services group FirstRand Ltd, has raised more than R2bn in funding for green and social investments by issuing its first sustainability bonds, which received strong demand from investors.

The bank raised R958m through the sale of a five-year sustainability bond as well as an additional R1.071bn via the issuance of a seven-year note, with bids for the two instruments totalling a combined R4.277bn. Demand for the five-year note totalled R2.103bn while for the seven-year bond it reached R2.174bn, meaning the debt instruments were 2.1 times oversubscribed as investor demand exceeded the amounts available by more than double...