Bond Awards

The arrival of the European Union’s €100bn Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) issuance programme in October 2020 catalysed secondary trading activity in the sovereigns, supranationals and agencies market. Tradeweb’s easily customisable platform has been giving both buy- and sell-side participants automated and efficient tools to take advantage of the opportunities SURE has opened up.

We’re delighted to reveal the winners of the GlobalCapital Bond Awards — the best borrowers, investment banks, investors and other participants in the international bond markets.

The European Investment Bank has had a long-standing and leading bond market franchise, but after reconfiguring its funding team in 2019 it has put in place a structure that readies it for future challenges.

When in March and April market circumstances swung from being most the attractive seen for years in terms of spread and coupon levels to what were the most challenging since at least the eurozone crisis, bank borrowers lost any certainty of market access for even the plainest unsecured debt. That environment suited JPMorgan, which had the size and skillset to pilot clients through the storm.

Few firms can match Rothschild & Co when it comes to the longevity of their client relationships — its oldest has endured for more than a century. In a business such as corporate debt advisory, in which relationships are crucial, that kind of lineage is an important advantage.

“There was no doubt in our minds that this was seismic,” says Mark Byrne, director, fixed income origination and syndication at TD Securities in London. He’s talking about the moment three years ago, when the UK Financial Conduct Authority confirmed plans to end the use of Libor in 2021.

The Covid-19 pandemic created one of the gravest global health and economic emergencies for a generation, requiring an unprecedented increase in issuance to fund the rapid response from sovereigns, supranationals and agencies.

Some banks talk about “delivering the bank” to clients but that is hard with so many individuals spread across so many teams and reporting lines. Bank of America does things differently. Its debt capital markets structure under Jeff Tannenbaum, head of EMEA DCM and leveraged finance, combines bonds, loans, derivatives, structuring, ESG, liability management and syndicate in a single team.

JPMorgan has topped our poll for the Most Impressive Bank for SSAs for the past five years, a result due on one side to continued investment in the business over a number of years and on the other to the advantage of keeping together what has been one of the most stable coverage teams in the business.

BNP Paribas stood out this year in the euro market for SSAs. In unprecedented market conditions it delivered clients its execution capabilities for the huge increase in funding required, advice around both approaching the market and the new focus on social and sustainable bonds, and its strength in the long end of the curve.

The resurgence of the Maple bond market from its lows since the 2008 financial crisis has delivered a healthy flow of sovereign, supranational and agency borrowers over the last year. RBC Capital Markets has been at the forefront of the revival, delivering some of the year’s biggest transactions and leading the league tables.

Tradeweb has been at the forefront of the development of bond trading for two decades, but it hasn’t stopped evolving as it works with dealers and institutional investors to meet the growing demand for electronification. The SSA market has been a big beneficiary, with rapid take-up of automated trading tools and ever more liquidity available on the platform.