BNP Paribas has translated consistent, currency-agnostic advice into tangible gains across investment grade, high-yield and emerging market segments, cementing its role as Europe’s best DCM franchise.
In euros, an area it already dominates, the bank added incremental share in 2024, an achievement made more impressive by the maturity of the market and the high base from which it started. In the Swiss franc market, where Credit Suisse’s retreat reshaped the landscape, BNPP emerged as the leading non-Swiss arranger, positioning itself third overall, and it now stands as the number one non-UK-headquartered sterling bookrunner.
The breadth of the bank’s currency coverage gives European treasurers a single counterparty able to arbitrate impartially between euros, sterling, Swiss francs and US dollars. “We focus on maintaining a credible offering in every pocket of global liquidity so we can guide clients to the most appropriate funding at any time” says Mark Lynagh, head of global banking UK and deputy head of global capital markets EMEA.
Product innovation has been another engine of growth. The team that pioneered the corporate hybrid segment a decade ago has kept its edge, translating its structuring expertise into leadership in insurance capital and topping league tables for ESG-labelled issuance. BNPP also continued to set the pace in bringing fresh credits to the bond market: around 40 debut deals last year, including high-profile first-time deals for Turkish corporates such as Erdemir and Ford Otosan. In fact, the bank placed in a top-three position in European emerging-market bonds, achieved despite a deliberately selective country approach aligned with the wider bank’s balance-sheet strategy.
The bank’s ability to couple underwriting strength with capital structure advice was also evident in crossover credits such as Alstom
Leveraged finance was another area of strength. Two decades after launching the business with a two-person team, BNPP is now ranked alongside the traditional Wall Street leaders.
The bank’s ability to couple underwriting strength with capital structure advice was also evident in crossover credits such as Alstom, where it combined rights issue leadership with a debut hybrid, and in acquisition financings that moved seamlessly from loan underwrite to bond take-out.
“Our success is rooted in our unwavering focus on our clients. Each year, we reset our goals and strive to be the top-tier service provider globally, consistently aiming to increase our market share,” says Frederic Zorzi, global head of primary markets.
What differentiates these outcomes is execution in volatile windows. When French political uncertainty spiked after President Macron’s snap election call, the bank still launched and priced a benchmark deal for EDF, underscoring its capacity to read the market and persuade issuers to act when rivals advised delay.
The team’s judgement, grounded in senior teams whose tenure stretches back two decades, helped lift European corporate market share to nearly 10% in 2024, even as supply surged and competition for vanilla mandates intensified.
