German Capital Markets: Making the move to centre stage

The launch of the euro seems to have strengthened German banks' competitive advantage, rather than undermining it as some had expected. Despite increased competition, the capital market is going from strength to strength. And feeding on this growth is Frankfurt - home to the European Central Bank - fast becoming the financial epicentre of euroland. Is this all too good to last? Laura Covill reports.

Leading bookrunners of bond issues by German borrowers 1998
Rank Amount ($m) No. of. issues (%)
1

Deutsche Bank

35,570

268

8.7

2

Landesbank Baden-Württemberg

35,064

307

8.5

3

Dresdner Bank

30,309

225

7.4

4

Westdeutsche Landesbank

29,840

176

7.3

5

HypoVereinsbank

26,487

424

6.4

6

Commerzbank

24,331

244

5.9

7

DG Bank

20,642

235

5.0

8

Norddeutsche Landesbank

12,820

138

3.1

9

ABN Amro

11,434

90

2.8

10

Goldman Sachs

9,047

38

2.2

11

Morgan Stanley

8,723

92

2.1

12

Bayerische Landesbank

8,478

80

2.1

13

Bankgesellschaft Berlin

8,328

145

2.0

14

Hamburgische Landesbank

8,074

54

2.0

15

Deutsche Girozentrale-Deutsche Kommunalbank

7,794

47

1.9

16

Barclays Capital

7,171

26

1.7

17

Warburg Dillon Read

7,095

38

1.7

18

Landesbank Hessen-Thüringen

5,827

59

1.4

19

Credit Suisse First Boston

5,733

39

1.4

20

Merrill Lynch

5,671

35

1.4

21

HSBC

5,081

54

1.2

22

WGZ-Bank

5,078

55

1.2

23

SGZ Bank

4,955

46

1.2

24

CDC Marchés

4,899

50

1.2

25

Landesbank Sachsen

4,626

59

1.1

Total

410,700

2,900

100.0

Source: Capital Data Bondware

When the French won benchmark status for their sovereign debt – though for shorter maturities rather than the more prestigious long end of the yield curve – many expected the Germans to be up in arms.

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