An exceptional year in Asian capital markets showed which banks were one-trick ponies and which had a stable of ideas. Focusing on offshore financing for Chinese companies, which account for around two-thirds of capital markets issuance in Asia ex-Japan, is usually a safe strategy, but it didn’t work in 2022. Chinese issuance still dominated, but companies turned to onshore financing to avoid market turmoil elsewhere – or simply had no need to raise capital as China’s economy stalled under strict Covid-19 restrictions. The A-share market took...Read more
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Bridging the gaps:
Banks which geared their businesses primarily to China or the tech sector struggled for deal flow, but Citigroup’s pan-Asian footprint and diverse sector coverage made it a bastion of stability, while its commercial bank enabled it to give issuers more options in rapidly changing market conditions.
Quick to adapt
CICC spotted windows of opportunity to connect Chinese companies with investors onshore and offshore in the most volatile conditions seen for years. For overcoming geopolitical challenges and being prompt to find new avenues to raise capital, CICC is IFR Asia’s Asian Bank of the Year.
Rebooting the market
In a year when many Chinese private sector companies found it hard to raise international funding, Lenovo Group came to market with successful transactions in three different asset classes, making it IFR Asia’s Issuer of the Year.
Buffeted by Covid-19 and caught in the crosshairs of Sino-US tensions and an authoritarian Chinese regime, Hong Kong’s ability to adapt is under sharp focus as it seeks to remain relevant as a global financial centre.
As Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo comes to the end of his term, his focus will be on securing the future of the country’s planned new capital city, which may yet be a triumph of sustainability, but risks to his legacy remain in a febrile market environment.
As Japan makes the crucial move to net-zero carbon emissions and other environmental targets, it is relying on transition finance as the mechanism to get there.
A selection of numbers and charts that illustrate the events of 2022
Highlights of the year in black and white
A year in the life of bond banker reginald sellars
Alternative definitions of the year's buzzwords