Bank of America and BNP Paribas are well placed to secure the top two spots in the sustainable bond lead manager tables for 2023, currently nudging 2022's top underwriter JP Morgan into third place.
According to provisional figures from Environmental Finance Data, with less than three weeks of 2023 to go, Bank of America tops the tables both for number of sustainable bond deals it has been lead manager on as well as the volume share* of its deals.
The US underwriter and its subsidiaries have been lead manager on 288 green, social, sustainability and sustainability-linked bond deals in 2023 to date with a combined volume share of $44.7 billion (see Table).
French rival BNP Paribas is currently in second place having underwritten 229 sustainable bond deals in 2023 with a combined volume share of $43.9 billion.
US bank JP Morgan, meanwhile, is in third place after being involved in 227 deals with a volume share of $41.4 billion in 2023. In 2022, JP Morgan topped the sustainable bond lead manager tables having supported $43.8 billion worth of deals – just ahead of Bank of America and BNP Paribas on $40.1 billion and $39.7 billion, respectively.
Bank of America has been helped to top of the table after being involved in four of the top five largest sustainable bond deals of 2023. This included sovereign green bond issuances from Italy in April and Germany in May worth €10 billion and €5.25 billion, respectively, as well as the €6 billion green bond from the EU in April and €5 billion social bond from Cades in January.
| Top 5 sustainable bond lead managers in 2023 (as of 12 December)” | ||
|---|---|---|
| Lead Manager | Number of deals | Volume share* |
| Bank of America | 288 | $44.7 billion |
| BNP Paribas | 229 | $43.9 billion |
| JP Morgan | 227 | $41.4 billion |
| Citi | 226 | $38.5 billion |
| Crédit Agricole CIB | 195 | $32.9 billion |
| Source: Environmental Finance Data (efdata.org) | ||
Indeed, sovereign sustainable bond issuance has been a key growth area for the market in 2023 – even if there are expectations for a slowdown in 2024, especially in Europe. According to Environmental Finance Data, sovereign sustainable bond issuance is up 47% in 2023 to date compared to 2022 levels – whereas no other issuer type has delivered even double-digit percentage growth in 2023 to date, and corporate issuance is down 14% on 2022 annual totals.
"2023 has seen a surge in sovereign sustainable bonds, from both new and returning issuers," said Environmental Finance Data senior research analyst Ashton Rowntree. "With over $158 billion issued in 2023 so far, it has been the biggest year for sovereign issuers on record and has buoyed the sustainable debt markets, while corporate issuers have struggled in the higher interest rate environment."
As a result, it is unsurprising that the top five lead managers in 2023 to date have also secured robust top five positions in the sovereign sustainable bond lead manager table.
Nonetheless, there is still the potential for the top of the table to change over the remainder of 2023 as the annual total edges towards $1 trillion.
"Whilst the remaining weeks of 2023 are not likely to see huge volumes of sustainable bonds issued, there is still enough time and potential issuance to affect the top of the lead manager league table," said Environmental Finance Data strategist Ben Smith.
Smith added that more than 100 bonds worth around $27 billion were issued between 12 December 2022 and the end of 2022, with the most active lead manager picking up a volume share of $2.1 billion over that period.
"Of the current front runners in the league table the largest spread in activity same time last year was $1.2 billion which, if replicated or surpassed in 2023 could see the lead manager league table top spot change hands," he added.
* Volume share is calculated by equally distributing bond proceeds to each lead manager working on the transaction. For example, a $1 billion bond with five lead managers would provide each lead manager with a $200 million volume share from the deal.