Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia urges deeper capital markets and broader green bond issuance beyond banks

The Superintendencia Financiera de Colombia published remarks by Financial Superintendent César Ferrari at the opening of a workshop on developing Colombia’s green bond market, arguing that scaling green bond issuance requires a larger and more effective domestic capital market and a wider base of issuers. Ferrari pointed to the small size of Colombia’s capital markets at 1.2% of GDP, and linked market development to improving intermediation between savings and investment. He cited a 6.5% savings rate and an investment rate of around 16% of GDP, while noting that foreign investment is necessary but not sufficient to address these constraints. The release also highlighted public-private working groups operating since 2023, reporting growth in equities of 64%, fixed income of 39% and spot transactions of 139%, and indicated that work will expand from demand-side initiatives to supply-side efforts “from next year” to attract more issuers. On green bonds specifically, he welcomed banks’ role as leading issuers but called for participation by other actors, noting that cumulative green bond issuance since 2016 totals COP 2.8 trillion. The workshop, held in Bogotá and organised by GGGI, nuam, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange and the European Union’s Global Gateway strategy, aimed to strengthen capabilities and knowledge on thematic bond issuance across the full issuance lifecycle in the Colombian market.