It is difficult to believe now that 2020 opened with all the talk at Davos focused on environmental, social and governance issues, sustainability and the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Just weeks later, the markets were thrown into disarray as Covid-19 spread and the US commercial paper market seized up, forcing corporates to draw down credit lines or ask for new facilities in breath-taking volumes.
This was one of those periods of market panic that fully tests banks’ ability to serve their clients.
“In the first seven months of this year we have had three markets,” Doug Adams, global co-head of equity capital markets at Citi tells Euromoney. “In the first 45 days everything was on fire. Everything was working and investors were very active. Then Covid spread in March and April and everything traded down materially, given the uncertainty, and there was mass panic. Support from the ECB and the Fed was unprecedented, and even though there is still significant uncertainty, markets feel good and we are almost back to the first 45 days.”
With its large balance sheet and global reach, Citi has stepped up to the plate.