Bank of America Issues its Second Equality Progress Sustainability Bond for $2 Billion

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Bank of America announced today the issuance of its second Equality Progress Sustainability Bond for $2 billion. The use of proceeds from the bond offering is designed to advance racial and gender equality, economic opportunity and environmental sustainability. This transaction marks the first offering following the publication of Bank of America's ESG-themed Issuance Framework last month.  The Framework aligns to Bank of America's Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) leadership and the company's sustainable finance strategy, which aims to mobilize and scale capital deployment to help advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The "Equality Progress" label is outlined in the Framework. This label indicates an objective to advance equality and economic opportunity for historically marginalized populations by focusing on financing and investments that provide people of color or women with expanded access to essential services, such as affordable housing, and business capital.

Bank of America will allocate at least 50% of an amount equal to the net proceeds from the sale of the bond to one or more eligible Equality Progress Social Assets, with the remainder allocated to eligible Green Assets (together "eligible assets").

This issuance expands upon Bank of America's first Equality Progress Sustainability Bond issued in 2020 by broadening the scope of the target populations for eligible Equality Progress Social Assets to include women and Asian American, Pacific Islander and Indigenous people, along with Black and Hispanic-Latino populations. In addition, the eligible Green Asset categories have been expanded to include sustainable water and wastewater management, green buildings and carbon capture.

"This bond offering demonstrates our continued commitment to sustainable development and delivers shared value between us and our stakeholders. It provides an opportunity for fixed income investors to be part of the environmental and social change that we stand for by providing access to financing and investment, and socioeconomic empowerment, for underserved populations, as well as continuing to invest in the environmental transition towards a low-carbon economy," said Anne Finucane, Vice Chair at Bank of America. 

"ESG-themed securities are scaling finance to critically-needed services, such as healthcare and affordable housing, and environmentally-focused projects across communities. This bond issuance will promote financing for, and investments in, underserved communities and minority- and women-led businesses, and will help drive the adoption of more low-carbon solutions" said Tom Montag, Chief Operating Officer at Bank of America. "This transaction is unique because Bank of America will allocate the bond proceeds only to eligible assets that are funded after the issue date of the bond, which is different from many similar transactions in the market."

The four-year bond, which is callable in three years, will pay interest semi-annually at a fixed rate of 1.53% for the first three years, and quarterly at a floating rate thereafter. BofA Securities was the sole bookrunner on the deal and six minority- or women-owned broker dealers served as joint-lead managers – Cabrera, CastleOak, C.L. King, Loop Capital, R. Seelaus & Co and Siebert Williams Shank.

Within one year of the issuance of today's Equality Progress Sustainability Bond, Bank of America will publish a report related to the use of proceeds of the bond on the company's ESG-Themed Issuance webpage, located on the Bank of America Investor Relations website. The information in the report regarding allocation to eligible assets will be updated at least annually as long as the bond remains outstanding.

Since 2013, Bank of America has issued $11.85 billion across nine Green, Social and Sustainability Bonds – five "Green" Bonds, two "Social" Bonds, and two "Sustainability" Bonds, including today's issuance – which focused on areas such as clean energy, energy efficiency, affordable housing and community development, and addressing the global coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, Bank of America co-authored the original Green Bond Principles, a voluntary set of guidelines and standards meant to bring integrity to this market where proceeds help to directly finance environmental projects. Bank of America has also been a member of the executive committee of the industry group that provides guidance on ESG-themed bond issuances since its inception.

These efforts underscore Bank of America's long-standing leadership in ESG and demonstrate the company's commitment to advancing environmental transition and social inclusive development as part of its sustainable finance goal of deploying $1.5 trillion in capital by 2030. In addition, BofA Securities has helped clients across all sectors support their sustainable business needs by raising in excess of $400 billion in principal amount through more than 550 ESG-themed bond offerings, including Green, Social and Sustainability Bonds.

To learn more about Bank of America's ESG-themed issuances or to view past financed projects, please visit Bank of America's Investor Relations website. Learn more about Bank of America's ESG efforts at about.bankofamerica.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this news release may constitute "forward-looking" statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements represent the current expectations, plans or forecasts of Bank of America based on available information. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. These statements often use words like "expects," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "targets," "intends," "plans," "predict," "goal" and other similar expressions or future or conditional verbs such as "will," "may," "might," "should," "would" and "could." Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and Bank of America undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the forward-looking statement was made.

Forward-looking statements represent Bank of America's current expectations, plans or forecasts of its future results, revenues, expenses, efficiency ratio, capital measures, and future business and economic conditions more generally, and other future matters, including possible issuances of green, social or sustainability securities and other statements about future events and expectations, including with respect to Bank of America's ESG strategy and its sustainable finance goal of $1.5 trillion by 2030. These statements are not guarantees of its future results or performance and involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict and are often beyond Bank of America's control. Actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, any forward-looking statements. Future events or circumstances may change Bank of America's approach to possible green, social or sustainability securities issuances or result in changes to the ESG-themed Issuance Framework or Bank of America's sustainability strategy and commitments generally. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement and should consider all of the uncertainties and risks discussed under Item 1A. "Risk Factors" of Bank of America's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 and in any of Bank of America's other subsequent Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Bank of America

At Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), we're guided by a common purpose to help make financial lives better, through the power of every connection. We're delivering on this through responsible growth with a focus on our environmental, social and governance (ESG) leadership. ESG is embedded across our eight lines of business and reflects how we help fuel the global economy, build trust and credibility, and represent a company that people want to work for, invest in and do business with. It's demonstrated in the inclusive and supportive workplace we create for our employees, the responsible products and services we offer our clients, and the impact we make around the world in helping local economies thrive. An important part of this work is forming strong partnerships with nonprofits and advocacy groups, such as community, consumer and environmental organizations, to bring together our collective networks and expertise to achieve greater impact.

For more Bank of America news, including dividend announcements and other important information, visit the Bank of America newsroom and register for news email alerts.

Reporters may contact:
Kelly Sapp, Bank of America (Sustainable Finance and ESG)
Phone: 1.980.214.3070
Kelly.E.Sapp@bofa.com

Tom Rottcher, Bank of America (Debt Capital Markets)
Phone: 1.973.590.7660
Thomas.F.Rottcher@bofa.com 

Investors may contact:
Jonathan Blum, Bank of America (Fixed Income)     
Phone: 1.212.449.3112
jonathan.blum@bofa.com

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SOURCE Bank of America Corporation