Landsbankinn has signed an agreement with the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) providing for a 15-year USD 40 million (ISK 5.8 billion) loan in connection with the Bank’s new headquarters at Austurbakki, Reykjavík. The building is expected to achieve BREEAM Excellent certification and the loan is eligible for funding from NIB’s environmental bond proceeds.
Lilja Björk Einarsdóttir, CEO of Landsbankinn: “We have set ourselves clear and ambitious goals when it comes to environmental concerns. The entire design and construction phase of the building has been aimed at achieving a BREEAM Excellent rating. In so doing, we reduce the negative impact caused during the construction and operating lifetime of the building. We were also mindful of the options for more favourable financing an excellent rating would create and the agreement with NIB has proven this to be the case. Since 2015, we have worked with NIB on three very successful projects and this new agreement is a testament to the mutual confidence in our relationship.”
Landsbankinn’s new building has a total of 16,500 square metres. The Bank will utilise just over 10,000 square metres for own activities and the Icelandic State has purchased the so-called North Wing of the building, around 6,000 square metres. The international BREEAM standard evaluates environmental management during the construction and operating phases, energy and water husbandry, selection of environmentally-friendly construction materials and minimisation of various pollution during construction.
Landsbankinn hf. is the largest universal bank in Iceland. The Bank was established in 2008 with a history going back to 1886. It is majority-owned by the Icelandic State Treasury.
The Nordic Investment Bank is an international financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries.
