Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) Botswana is a division of First National Bank of Botswana Limited, an authorised financial services provider, registration number: BW00000790476.
RC 1031371 Copyright © FirstRand 2026. All rights reserved.
Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) Botswana is a division of First National Bank of Botswana Limited, an authorised financial services provider, registration number: BW00000790476.
RC 1031371 Copyright © FirstRand 2026. All rights reserved.
16 April 2026
RMB’s Sustainable Finance team has been recognised by Global Finance and Environmental Finance with awards for Deal of the Year, Best Bank for Social Bonds, Best Bank for Transition/Sustainability Linked Loans and Transition Loan of the Year. These accolades highlight our commitment to making a meaningful difference in the environment and societies in which we operate.
RMB has been actively tackling climate resilience and a just transition to a low-carbon world. To accomplish this, the bank incorporates climate factors into its capital allocation, risk appetite, portfolio monitoring, and reporting.
In 2025, the bank completed several landmark transactions, such as FirstRand Bank’s first social-bond issuance for female-owned businesses, totalling 2.5-billion-rands. This bond directly addresses barriers to financial inclusion, economic participation, and job creation for women by providing capital to women entrepreneurs.
RMB also arranged for the refinancing of Mediclinic’s 9-billion-rand sustainability-linked loan across four lenders in what is currently one of the largest syndicated sustainable-finance transactions in South Africa. Mediclinic operates private hospitals that provide multidisciplinary acute care in South Africa and Namibia.
The bank has also developed a new transition-finance asset class and associated framework for allocating funds to projects facilitating emissions reductions. RMB served as the transition-finance adviser to FirstRand in the 2.6-billion-rand facility from British International Investment, the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor. This facility mobilized international capital for Africa’s climate goals by funding transition loans across South Africa and the broader continent to support the decarbonization of hard-to-abate sectors, such as industrials, energy, and cement. The facility also creates a blueprint for how private and development finance can work together to advance the energy transition in emerging markets.
The Transition Loan of the Year Award recognises an outstanding transition loan transaction that demonstrates credible ambition, strong performance targets, and alignment with long-term sustainability goals. The winning loan highlights alignment with best practices and/or standards, demonstrates a robust structure, outlines a clear methodology for assessing performance, and contributes meaningfully to the development of sustainable debt markets through reporting and transparency.
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Sources: https://gfmag.com/award/award-winners/sustainable-finance-awards-2026-africa/
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