Events such as the rise and fall in the oil price and the steep devaluation of the Egyptian pound, made 2016 another eventful year for markets businesses in the Middle East.
As regional economic and political cycles turn, Standard Chartered has the benefit of a long-standing presence at the centre of Middle East trading, and is a worthy winner of our best bank for markets. It remains a go-to bank, whether in local government bonds, interest rates and corporate credit, or more esoteric currencies such as the Iraqi and Jordanian dinars and the Egyptian pound.
A good example this year of the trust clients place in the bank is its work to jointly coordinate and partially distribute a complex $670 million 20-year hedge for a large Bahraini project financing deal, alongside the sponsors and other lenders.
Standard Chartered benefits from the firm’s global investment in areas like compliance and technology, as well as its established presence in Islamic finance. Its general counsel for Africa and the Middle East, Karl Rogers, chairs the Middle East committee of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (Isda). The bank also produces some of the most highly rated regional economic and credit research, including quantitative and technical analysis of local currencies and rates.