Awards

The corporate hybrid market is on a tear, with post-Covid issuance in 2020 of €46.7bn, almost as much as in the two previous years combined, and volume for 2021 already reaching €19.8bn by mid-May. Citi has been on the top-line of 60% of the corporate hybrids issued since the start of the pandemic, leading €38.6bn out of a total €66bn, and on 38 tranches out of 75 issued.

The unstoppable rise of sustainability-linked finance was arguably the most important trend in the bond market over the last year as it opened the door to socially responsible investment products for a swathe of issuers unable, for one reason or another, to issue green bonds.

The green and SRI bond market has been through a dizzyingly fast development over the past year, powered by the appearance of some of the world’s largest public sector issuers, with two green bond entrants from the G7 and the return of a third. Crédit Agricole CIB, with its long-established ESG credentials, has been at the heart of the action.

The European bond market for financial institutions has swung away from liquidity and towards capital, while ESG is becoming an ever-more important theme. Successful lead managers have needed expertise across all these areas, as well as the global distribution capability to help issuers find opportunities wherever and whenever they arise, a recipe well-suited to HSBC.

By staying close to clients, whether the largest sovereigns or small, new economy firms, JPMorgan has delivered across the league tables and beyond.

The last year has seen green, social and sustainability-linked bonds go mainstream in almost every corner of the market, from sovereigns, to financial institutions and corporates.

Being a leader in green and sustainable capital markets takes much more than arranging bond frameworks. From advising on sustainability ratings, to structuring deals and managing reporting, to embedding sustainability in lending products, ING is helping clients throughout their sustainability journey.

A huge year for sovereign funding programmes and the emergence of the European Union as an issuer made for a far more dynamic sovereign, supranational and agency bond market than ever before. The trends played to JPMorgan’s strengths, whether it was the opening up of the ultra-long end of the euro market, the shift to more sovereign syndications over auctions, or the rise and rise of green and social bonds.

Consistency, predictability and transparency were the watchwords for Moody’s financial institutions team over the last year as it navigated the extraordinary conditions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The investment bank awards for financial institution capital and regulatory advice are in many ways two sides of the same coin: both demand deep sector expertise and relationships as well as a strategic understanding of bank balance sheets that goes well beyond a pure debt capital markets perspective. Morgan Stanley has shown its ability to deliver in a period during which these demands were more important than at any time in the last decade.

Rating emerging market debt is difficult at any time, with economic and financial conditions to track across more than 100 countries, but since the start of the Covid-19 crisis it became even harder, with locally very different health outcomes and policy responses all feeding through to issuers. Moody’s stayed on top by drawing on its longstanding depth and breadth of local knowledge while keeping a focus on key themes such as ESG.

Corporate debt issuers were in the eye of the storm when the Covid-19 pandemic struck last year and around the globe and across sectors each was affected very differently. Moody’s consistent and transparent approach was crucial to helping investors navigate the period.