Nick Darrant left the bond market in 2023 as a young banking retiree after two decades of experience in global capital markets, particularly focused on emerging market debt. He is now an adviser in the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning in Rwanda, but it is his career in the capital markets that GlobalCapital honours with this Award.
Darrant's trademark as a syndicate banker was his character, and he stood as proof that flamboyant personalities, even in debt capital markets, can be a blessing, not a curse — something that perhaps will become an even more important message with the rise of artificial intelligence.
He began his career in investment banking at ABN Amro in 2002, where he became the youngest head of emerging market syndicate on the street, at a bank which at the time was a powerhouse in this business.
From 2010 to 2023 he ran EM syndicate in London for three of the top six banks in the market: first BNP Paribas and JP Morgan for five years each, followed by three years at Citigroup, where he was also co-head of EMEA syndicate.
During that time Darrant won GlobalCapital’s Most Impressive EM Syndicate Banker Award several times.
He was one of the key bankers who drove the EM bond market from minimal volumes at the start of this millennium to the behemoth of a business it is today.
That said, Darrant was always keen to stress that the needs of emerging markets from a financing point of view can be different from those of a developed market issuer, even if the volumes in some cases are now very comparable.
Among other things, Darrant became an advocate for diversity in banking, but many of his peers argue that his real strength was in somehow finding time to be a mentor to younger people more broadly, as well as being a valued friend to those at his own level.
Lord D’Arrant, as some affectionately refer to him, rose through the ranks of the capital markets on a wave of goodwill as well as skill.
