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Belgian bank's choice of currency diversity pays off 'in spades'

Green bond framework fails to halt investors' ESG concerns

ESG labels help Caixa Geral and NN Bank land near fair value

Supra adds to list of issuers pricing versus Sofr mid-swaps but most borrowers stick to Libor

Big isn’t necessarily the best. But when it comes to being a covered bond issuer, and a green bond issuer this year, it was certainly helpful. According to our poll of market participants, BPCE, one of the biggest issuers in the covered bond market was also one of the best, nominated in an incredible five categories and scooping the prestigious awards for both Issuer of the Year and Best Euro Deal of the Year.

Warren Buffet famously joked that only when the tide goes out do you discover who has been swimming naked. A year when the tide has been a long way out for the covered bond market – low funding needs, negative yields and poor liquidity – has been a true test of covered bond banks. LBBW’s long term commitment to the market, and yet willingness to innovate has been more important than ever and has made them GlobalCapital’s Covered Bond House of the Year.

Almost 650 people responded to this year's poll, showing that GlobalCapital's Covered Bond Awards are a recognition of achievement by the market

They say you only get one chance to make a first impression. In the covered bond market memories of that first deal, and how it establishes an issuer’s relative value and reputation for fair treatment of investors, can persist long after the deal matures.

The covered bond market, long established, standard, slow moving, boring even (but in a good way) isn’t exactly renowned for being the fastest of the financial markets to embrace change. So, when an issuer actually makes innovation work to better fund their business, and at the same time makes their investors happy that’s praiseworthy. And that is exactly what NN Bank, issuer of GlobalCapital’s Best Pioneering Deal of the Year, managed to do last June.

In a year which has seen the overall market shrink, the one sector to really buck that trend is the market for green and ESG covered bonds. So, naturally it has been a focus of attention for covered bond bankers everywhere and the competition to be best bank for ESG issuers was more intense than ever. In the face of stiff opposition, it is Crédit Agricole CIB that took the laurels, adding to their already very impressive credentials in the sector.

Some things in life, like tax returns for example, aren’t exactly glamorous, but they have to be done as the downsides of getting them wrong are just too great. So, it is with maintaining existing covered bond programmes, in particular transitioning them to the new risk free rate benchmarks and managing their liability structures. When the downsides are big, banks need to be able to turn to an adviser that they trust and, according to GlobalCapital’s survey of market participants, this year that bank, the Best Bank for ALM and Libor Transition Management, is NatWest Markets.

On the face of it, with low issuance and the ECB hoovering up bonds as fast as it can, you’d say that selling covered bonds this year hasn’t been that tricky. But selling covered bonds well is a different matter entirely. Tight valuations, a lack of benchmark issuance and negative yields all make sales difficult, but at the same time they all make the information that a good sales team can deliver more important to the whole covered bond value chain. And it is something that LBBW, GlobalCapital’s Best Bank for Distribution has focused on more than ever.