Here are our reasons for choosing each of our individual Awards for Excellence winners.

Overall deal: Bank of Ireland Mortgage Bank

It is not often that individual covered bond issues are highlighted by governments as milestones. But then not every covered bond issue is as notable as a Eu1bn three year deal issued by Bank of Ireland Mortgage Bank in November.

“This issuance is further evidence of the strengthening and normalisation of our banking system,” said Ireland’s finance minister, Michael Noonan. “It is a clear show of confidence in the restructuring of the sector and its viability into the future by international investors.”

While the transaction clearly benefited from Ireland’s profile as a poster boy for the EU’s recovery cheerleaders, Bank of Ireland deserves credit for taking advantage of the opportunities presented it and for the way it has done so.

The November deal was the first non-government guaranteed deal for an Irish financial institution since September 2009 – when Bank of Ireland had launched its last benchmark covered bond. The Irish bank followed up the watershed deal with a Eu500m five year in March in the wake of the first Irish government benchmark since the 2010 bail-out.

Bankers pay tribute to the way in which Bank of Ireland has maintained a dialogue with potential investors even when the market was closed. The CBR witnessed this first hand at an LBBW covered bond conference in February 2012 when head of wholesale funding Darach O’Leary engaged with investors despite laughing off our suggestion that we might see an Irish covered bond before the year was out.

“Darach is one of the best funding officials out there, if not the best,” says one syndicate official. “He pushes banks, but in the right way.”

Deal – Dollars: Royal Bank of Canada

A full-blown US market with domestic issuers and investors is perhaps the Holy Grail of the covered bond market. Although that remains a fantasy, the asset class took a big step forward in North America in September when Royal Bank of Canada launched the first fully SEC registered covered bond.

The $2.5bn five year issue attracted some $5.25bn of orders from more than 180 investors, and was hailed as a breakthrough, promising a broader US investor base for the asset class for index and other reasons while offering the issuer savings.

“The deal went phenomenally well,” said a syndicate banker away from the leads, “and was right in line with expectations and where we had pinpointed the opportunities for them.”

Much of the deal’s success was down to work done before execution, with the issuer and Securities & Exchange Commission getting themselves comfortable on the regulatory side.

The deal also caught the attention of those in Washington whose support is necessary for the US dream to become a reality, with Democrat Senator Kay Hagan citing it in a call for the swift passage of legislation.

Innovation: Commerzbank

If there were an award for “Most different reasons why this deserves to win”, then the SME-backed structured issue Commerzbank launched in February would win hands down. But, then again, some market participants would argue that the deal doesn’t even deserve to be considered for a covered bond award.

Love it or hate it, it is hard to deny that Commerzbank’s Eu500m five year was groundbreaking and it wins the Award for Excellence in innovation.

With apologies to Turkish issuers, the German bank’s inclusion of SME loans in a covered bond programme broke one of the market’s taboos – breaking out from traditional public sector and mortgage collateral. And it did so on a structured basis in the home of the Pfandbrief.

A full pass-through structure beyond the expected maturity date and other structural innovations make the deal almost overqualified for even this award.

Commerzbank’s deal also makes covered bonds relevant to the latest plan being pushed to save the euro-zone real economy: somebody do something about SMEs! While the ECB has called for governments, EU institutions and the ABS industry to come up with a solution to this real economy problem, only the covered bond market has delivered a potential breakthrough – small wonder that the deal won covered bond treatment from the central bank.

The debate over the deal’s status will run and run, making Commerzbank’s issue possibly the most influential innovation in the covered bond market since HBOS launched the first structured covered bond a decade ago, in 2003.

Overall issuer: Commonwealth Bank of Australia

CBA has been at the forefront of covered bond issuance despite being a relative newcomer. And, unlike some of its large peers at home and abroad, it has a track record that is hard to fault – despite an ambitious issuance programme.

Alongside deals in niche currencies – and its home Australian dollar market last year – the bank has not shied away from leading the way in euros, sterling and US dollars this past year.

In April 2012 CBA launched a Eu1.5bn 10 year deal into a challenging market, which was seen as a brave move but attracted Eu4.5bn of demand. It followed this up with a £750m 14 year issue that was the first long dated sterling benchmark from a foreign issuer since before the crisis and remains the largest, and achieved the tightest new issue spread seen in the currency. The bank then opened the US dollar market for covered bond issuance in January with a successful $2bn five year deal.

“Their issuance was very balanced over the course of the year and they very nicely accessed different parts of the curve to secure best execution in each market while ensuring outstanding ongoing investor diversification,” says one banker.

Another banker describes CBA’s funding team – led by Simon Maidment, head of group funding and execution – as “probably the most switched on of the Australians, if not all issuers”.

Issuer – Euros: Intesa Sanpaolo

Some market participants put forward Intesa Sanpaolo’s Eu1bn 12 year OBG from January for a deal award. Others suggested its public into mortgage exchange last summer should be recognised. And one banker simply described them as “a great issuer”.

Whichever way you look at it, that sounds like a winner.

However, the issuer faced stiff local competition, with Italian peer UniCredit also coming in for acclaim.

Among factors tilting our decision in Intesa’s favour was the exchange of public sector into higher rated mortgage backed OBGs, on a par for par basis and with the same terms, that it completed in July 2012.

“That one definitely wins on my ‘I wish I’d thought of that’ criteria,” said one covered bond banker.

Among a trio of euro benchmarks executed from September to January, Intesa Sanpaolo’s 12 year in January was the longest dated OBG in two years, the only 12 year euro benchmark outside France in our qualifying period, and its longest OBG.

The Eu1bn no-grow transaction garnered Eu3.5bn of demand from over 150 accounts, with 89% placed outside Italy, and achieved pricing inside its curve and more than 100bp through BTPs.

A lead syndicate official said that Intesa was for the third time in six months confirming its high standing in the market with the 12 year deal, as well as further distancing itself from peripheral names, and “being able to enter in the elite club of issuers with the privilege to go beyond the 10 year tenor”.

Investor relations: Swedbank

It may seem strange that a bank that only issued one international benchmark in the period under consideration (April 2012 to March 2013) and no euro benchmarks at all wins an Award for Excellence, but Swedbank has nevertheless won over market participants and was cited for its investor relations work.

Bankers note how the Swedish issuer’s spreads have improved to be on a par with the tightest of its peers.

“It has gone from the doghouse a couple of years’ back to being the best positioned among the Nordic majors,” says one.

Its outperformance in the covered bond market has been helped by better than expected results and positive ratings news, while as an issuer it has been active in raising senior unsecured and subordinated debt. Swedbank rounded off the year under consideration with a return to the covered bond market, selling a $1bn five year in March.

Overall bank: Barclays

Getting to the bottom of which banks really stand out in the covered bond market is no easy task, with reciprocity allegedly clouding the picture and the success of bulge bracket bond houses elsewhere making it hard to discern their expertise in the asset class.

But one name stands out as the undisputed leader: Barclays. In the UK bank’s case, it appears that the league table does not lie.

“They are still a real reference point in this market,” says a rival DCM banker.

A stalwart of the euro market, Barclays has now positioned itself at the front of the US dollar market.

Meanwhile, the bank remains active in bringing new jurisdictions on stream and developing new structures.

“You can’t knock them for the work they do to develop the market,” says a covered bond banker at one competitor. “I wish I had the resources to throw at those obscure countries.”

The bank is seen not only as strong overall but among the leaders across the variety of competences necessary for a covered bond franchise, including research, syndicate, structuring, trading and origination.

Bank – Euros: UniCredit

Making sense of the relative merits of banks within the euro benchmark market is far from straightforward given its competitive nature. And once the testy subject of reciprocity surfaces emotion often takes over from reason.

However, a couple of deals this year already have shown that successful execution cannot be taken for granted even for top credits.

Each issuer has its own preferences, but a name that regularly crops up when issuers are asked who they can trust to help avoid any such pitfalls is UniCredit.

Rival syndicate bankers also pay tribute to the Munich-based operation, and the bank has kept pace with its strongest competitors and led more euro benchmarks than any other over the period in question.

Legal advisory: Allen & Overy

One respondent to our call for nominations simply put down in the legal advisory field: “No brainer.” It would have been a disservice to firms such as Clifford Chance, Linklaters and Morrison Foerster if we hadn’t checked that this market participant had Allen & Overy in mind, but given the strength of feeling in support of A&O it was no surprise when our suspicion was confirmed.

The firm has been at the forefront of developments in the covered bond market for at least a decade and remains there. Among partners mentioned by their supporters are Angela Clist, Sally Onions and Lawton Camp.

“The breadth and depth of their advice encompasses a number of different partners,” says one structuring specialist. “We have worked with them extensively across all the major markets, and they have the ability to cross-pollinate the advice they provide.”

Among A&O’s contributions in the past year are involvement in the development of Belgium’s covered bond market and in RBC’s SEC registered covered bond.

Regulation: Sveriges Riksbank

When it comes to opinions on financial authorities from market participants, negativity typically abounds. It is therefore refreshing to hear one such institution talked about consistently in a positive way, namely Sweden’s Riksbank.

Issuers applaud the way in which the Financial Stability Department, led by Mattias Persson, handles its responsibilities and takes a pro-active approach.

“They have a consistent dialogue with the banks regarding different issues and the risk of something coming in out of the blue is therefore very small,” says one funding official. “But it’s not like the banks are dictating policy as they usually have a firm view.”

The Riksbank has also engaged with the wider market on a variety of issues, whether that be in support of its local banks or to promote the debate about asset encumbrance — a topic where its joint stance with the Swedish FSA has been complimented.

Editor’s Award: European Covered Bond Council

The euro-zone crisis has shown just how difficult it is to get representatives of different countries to come together and compromise for the common good.

In the covered bond market, that unenviable task falls to the European Covered Bond Council. And history has shown that the covered bond market can be just as fractious as any EU heads of government meeting.

Against such a challenging backdrop, the successful launch of the Covered Bond Label in January deserves to be recognised as an achievement in itself.

But above and beyond that, the initiative fits perfectly into the spirit of our Awards for Excellence in driving the market forward.

The Label has gradually won around sceptics among issuers, investors and bankers, while getting the European Central Bank onside has been a key achievement.

At the same time, the ECBC has been commendably frank in its admission that the Label needs to be improved.

The Label was nominated by a variety of market participants in the field of innovation, while others proposed the ECBC – under its parent, the European Mortgage Federation – as a candidate in regulation.

We have given the institution our Editor’s Award, reflecting its unique contribution and status in the market.

At the heart of the Label project has been ECBC head Luca Bertalot, whose tireless efforts and passionate arguments have won plaudits, while others pay tribute to the work of the body down from chairman Paul O’Connor to its various working groups.