GlobalCapital's European Securitization Awards 2024 dinner was a celebratory feast with over 200 attendees present to accept gongs — after over 45,000 votes were cast.
Five of the awards, however, were left for the editorial team to decide based on pitches.
Market participants across the industry pitched to GlobalCapital in the early months of 2024, making a case for why they should win Overall Bank of the Year, Private Securitization Deal of the Year and Overall Deal of the Year. In addition, GlobalCapital gave out two personal awards for Outstanding Contribution and Lifetime Achievement.
These final decisions were the result of a long and exacting process, which the editorial team takes on striving for accuracy and fairness. Below, we explain our selections.
Overall Bank of the Year: Barclays
Barclays [pictured in header] won GlobalCapital’s bank of the year award for excellence across the board. The team does not chase every last deal but, in their expanding areas of strength, the work they do is best in class.
In an incredibly closely contested award, the decision was always going to come down to inches. Barclays edged ahead with its ability to bring a full suite of services to clients.
On the key themes of last year, Barclays was a leader. 2023 will be remembered for the return of UK prime RMBS issuers. Despite not having an internal client on the scale of some its competitors, Barclays was consistently included on the big trades — even from rivals, in the shape of Lloyds' Permanent shelf and Santander's Holmes series.
When it comes to internal deals, Barclays pulled off Gemgarto 2023-1 — the return to the market of its new subsidiary, Kensington. Mezzanine tranches were offloaded, managing the balance sheet by removing the risk from some of Kensington’s high LTV lending while the seniors were retained. It is one of the best examples of another trend that defined the year, the continuing rise of both cash and synthetic risk transfer deals.
For the second year running, Barclays are best in class.
Overall Deal of the Year: Green Lion 2023-1
(ING, Crédit Agricole, Santander, Hogan Lovells)
ING’s return to RMBS issuance, with Green Lion 2023-1, won GlobalCapital’s award for deal of the year for two main reasons. First, it inspires hope that banks could step up their euro RMBS issuance. Second, the green credentials of the deal were outstanding, clearly considered and researched to an exceptional standard.
Green Lion was one of only a handful of euro-denominated, bank-originated RMBS deals to price 2023. Compared with sterling, the euro market has always been the bigger prize for securitization. But so far, volumes have disappointed. Green Lion hints that the giant might just be stirring.
When it comes to green credentials, Green Lion has it all. There’s a use of proceeds commitment, there’s green collateral and an exceptional standard of data to match. But what really sets it apart is ING’s clear desire to go above and beyond.
The deal uses primary energy demand to determine which loans are eligible, rather than EPC scores which vary from country to country and are difficult to convert into actual carbon dioxide emissions. Every claim the issuer made had been attacked from all angle, during more than a year of work.
Most estimates suggest any ‘greenium’ was minimal, but in green ABS issuance begets issuance. The same is likely true of prime euro RMBS. Hence, GlobalCapital recognises Green Lion 2023-1 as a deal that will have significance perhaps for years to come.
Private Securitization Deal of the Year: Octopus Electric Vehicles
(Octopus EV, Lloyds Bank)
Lloyds’ warehouse with Octopus EV took home Private Securitization Deal of the Year. The deal was innovative from top to bottom, from the collateral right up to structures that house it.
The receivables for the £550m warehouse come from Octopus’ salary sacrifice scheme, which allows employees to save on an electric vehicle by paying for it before tax. That immediately threw up challenges as there was only a limited origination history to look at for performance, and no formal ratings methodology.
In addition, there are a number of innovations in the structure to maximise flexibility, repeatability and scalability. It allows Octopus a daily sale of receivables, a weekly funding reset and a monthly payment date.
Lloyds was able to bring its own EV data and borrow structures from its other deals to deliver for Octopus — and boost the UK’s green transition.
It was an outstanding deal in its own right. But there’s plenty of reason to watch this space. In the medium term, the deal has been designed to allow the parties to bring a mezzanine partner on board.
Longer term, the warehouse also raises the tantalising possibility of a new public asset class. It will take a lot more work to get there, but if that new frontier of EV financing does eventually open up, the contribution of this landmark deal will not be forgotten.
Outstanding Contribution and Lifetime Achievement
Janet Oram: Outstanding Contribution
Janet Oram, Head of ABS at Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS), has worked in European securitization in one way or another for over 20 years. She began her career at Paragon and then moved to Fitch before taking a role at BlackRock, where she eventually ran the European ABS business and managed around $4bn-$5bn. Her career at BlackRock spanned from 2006 to 2021, when she left to set up USS's team.
Aside from being one of the kindest people in the market, Oram has set herself apart with tireless advocacy work on the industry's behalf since the global financial crisis.
But perhaps most importantly for this award, it should be noted how rare and how difficult it is to bring a new investor into the European market. To do that in such a short time is testament to Oram's talents and why her colleagues nominated her for this award.
Steve Gandy: Lifetime Achievement
Steve Gandy, formerly the managing director and head of private debt mobilisation, notes & structuring at Santander, retired in 2022 after 40 years in banking.
During that time, he spent 11 years at Bank of America and 17 years at Santander. A true force of nature in European securitization, he advocated tirelessly for the market after the 2008 crisis.
That included two stints as securitization chairman for AFME, and a role on the boards of Prime Collateralised Securities (PCS) and European DataWarehouse, two companies integral to the creation of the EU's simple, transparent and standardised framework.
A standing ovation at the awards dinner from his old colleagues at Santander perhaps sums it up well. In his own words, he did pretty good.