The costs of green bond issuance have moderated significantly, making issuing in the format much more attractive, UK debt management office chief Robert Stheeman said on Tuesday.
"Whenever we've innovated we have often tended not to be first mover, and in general that perhaps has not been a bad thing because very often, especially in markets such as green, being first mover came at quite a considerable cost," Stheeman told a Euromoney bond markets conference.
The UK expects to sell its inaugural green bond in September, Stheeman reiterated.
Asked how it would react to strong investor interest in inflation-linked debt, Stheeman highlighted the UK has increased issuance of inflation-linked bonds significantly this year, after uncertainty around the reform of its retail price index measure held back issuance last year.
Stheeman also said that, if yields were to rise further, it would be the "wrong choice" to switch away from the longer-dated issuance already planned for this year.
The international ownership of gilts, which is only slightly down compared to last year despite the surge in issuance, gives reassurance that the investor base remains diverse, and not dominated by central bank bond purchases, Stheeman added.
(Reporting by Yoruk Bahceli; Editing by Saikat Chatterjee) ((Yoruk.Bahceli@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 7571; Reuters Messaging: yoruk.bahceli@thomsonreuters.com))
