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GlobalCapital is delighted to reveal this year’s winners of its Financial Institution Bond Awards, which celebrate the top issuers, arrangers, bankers and service providers in the capital markets.

The immediate need for corporates in Europe during the Covid-19 crisis was to quickly tap liquidity but after debt capital markets re-opened, thoughts turned to future-proofing business models, balance sheets and funding strategies. BNP Paribas was perfectly placed to have those discussions with clients with an integrated coverage model that provided neutral capital structure advice.

Sustainability became the defining feature of late 2020 and 2021 capital markets, with ever more issuers and investors in more asset classes using more products than ever before. BNP Paribas has led the development of the market from sovereign green bonds to social and sustainability linked finance.

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.