We are pleased to recognise the best of the covered bond market today (Tuesday) by announcing online the winners of The Covered Bond Report Awards for Excellence 2020 – even if we would rather have been celebrating their achievements over a glass or two with you!

As previously announced, the aim of The Covered Bond Report awards is to recognise those deals, institutions and initiatives that have been best in class or contributed to the development of covered bonds over the past year.

After a few weeks of nominations, discussions with a cross-section of market participants, and deliberations, we have selected 14 winners.

As well as reflecting the best of the market, these include deals and institutions of diverse nature, faces old, returning and new, as well as featuring issues from before as well as through the crisis. The most common denominator is that many of our winners have been at the forefront of developments, although others are recognised for consistent or long-standing qualities or achievements – we will be highlighting some of these in the days and weeks to come.

While you might have chosen other names than those we have selected – and thank you all for your input regarding any nominations you may have put forward – we hope you at least agree our choices are worthy winners. Congratulations to them all!

Overall deal of the year: Banco Santander €1.25bn 0.01% February 2025 & €1.25bn 0.10% February 2032 cédulas hipotecarias

Euro deal of the year: BPCE SFH €1.25bn 0.01% May 2030 green covered bond

Global deal of the year: Santander UK $1.25bn 1.625% February 2023 & £1bn February 2027 Sonia FRN covered bonds

Core deal of the year: Berlin Hyp €1bn 0.01% August 2022 mortgage Pfandbrief

Peripheral deal of the year: Caixa Económica Montepio Geral €500m 0.125% November 2024 obrigações hipotecárias

Green, social or sustainability deal of the year: Caisse Française de Financement Local (Caffil) €1bn 0.01% May 2025 social (Covid-19) bond

Pioneer: Luminor

Euro issuer: Caisse de Refinancement de l’Habitat (CRH)

Global issuer: Bank of Nova Scotia

Euro house: LBBW

Global house: HSBC

Most impressive bank: Credit Suisse

Arranger: Barclays

Editor’s award: Green & Social Bond Principles

Note: In our awards, the term “global” is used to mean the international aspect of the market, rather than “overall” (which we would make explicit, as with our “overall deal of the year”). It does not exclude consideration of the euro market, which is clearly the backbone of overall issuance, but euro activity may be given less weight in our considerations. Therefore, neither our “global” nor “euro” awards are a priori superior or inferior to the other, but may be more valued by market participants in light of their needs, resources or ambitions. Meanwhile, although there may be potential cross-over between the euro deal of the year category and the core, peripheral and green/social/sustainability deal of the year categories, we have awarded these based on consideration of the dimensions and emphases of the respective trades.