A few banks have dented Citigroup’s ego in a few debt product areas in the past year, but none comes close to its strength across the board by product or by geography.
According to Dealogic, Deutsche Bank has finally taken the number one spot from Citigroup for overall global international bond issuance, with a market share of 9.21% to Citigroup’s 8.35%. For its success on both sides of the Atlantic, Deutsche also replaces Citigroup as top asset-backed securities house. In Europe, Deutsche’s dominance over Citigroup is even more apparent: Deutsche comes top for issuance in euros and for western European issuers while Citi ranks third in both tables. However, Citigroup still has a strong liability management franchise in Europe and a leading MTN desk. It is also the top bookrunner for western European sovereigns and supranationals.
For emerging-market debt, JPMorgan takes the top place in our awards, largely because of its volumes in the active Latin American market in the past year. But Citi still achieves broad success in this area. It is Euromoney’s top regional debt house for Asia and for emerging Europe. The bank has increased its investment in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Randy Barker, global head of credit markets, says there will be a new focus on Asian distribution. “We’re raising our sales and trading profile in Hong Kong and Asia and we think that’s a tremendous opportunity, particularly with the increased depth of the investor base there,” he says.
There are many other areas where no other bank can match Citigroup’s capabilities. It is still the top project house globally and the top US debt house. JPMorgan continues to clean up when it comes to market share in US syndicated loans this year, as it does in Europe, pushing Citigroup into second place in both regions, but Citigroup is certainly the number one US bond house. It holds the top spot in investment-grade underwriting and is a top three player in high-yield bonds, an area where it believes it has improved its ranking significantly in the past year.
Globally, it also has an enviable fixed-income trading platform and reputation in the secondary market, which has been sustained this year. “We’ve maintained our profile and benefited from the volatility in the market,” says Marwan Marshi, head of US corporate origination. “We’re now looking at the opportunities arising from a tightening spread environment.”
There have been other tweaks to Citigroup’s global platform. In June the bank merged its European corporate bond and loan capital markets teams into one corporate debt markets group, under Charlie Berman, co-head of European credit markets. The bank has done the same in Asia Pacific although there’s no plan to replicate this model elsewhere.
Marshi, who also heads global product development, says the bank is also looking to maintain market share with further investment in the private market, leasing, project finance, future flow products, risk management and derivatives.
