Global law firm Clifford Chance has advised the European Investment Bank (EIB) on the issuance of a fixed-rate 100 million euro-denominated digital bond. The three-year bond bears interest at a rate of 2.360 per cent per annum and has been recorded on a private permissioned blockchain operated and accessed via the HSBC Orion platform. Settlement during the primary issuance process was facilitated by a private permissioned blockchain platform developed and operated by the French Central Bank called DL3S, as part of the Eurosystem’s exploratory work to test distributed ledger technology for the settlement of wholesale transactions in central bank money.

Steve Jacoby, Partner at Clifford Chance in Luxembourg, comments: “This was the third time that the EIB has collaborated with the French Central Bank on a digital bonds issuance, with the addition of new bookrunners and direct participants on HSBC Orion showing the continued strong interest of market participants in digital capital markets transactions.”

Alexander Tollast, Counsel at Clifford Chance in Paris, adds: “We are proud to support the European Investment Bank once again in this important contribution to the Eurosystem’s exploratory work.”

The European Clifford Chance team advising the EIB comprised Steve Jacoby, Alexander Tollast, Boika Deleva, and Federica Gamen.

The joint lead managers (BNP Paribas, HSBC Continental Europe, and NatWest Markets Plc) were advised by Allen Overy Shearman Sterling SCS.