IFR Awards – 20 years on and still a winner

IFR 2067 24 January 2015 to 30 January 2015
6 min read
EMEA

YOU’LL BE PLEASED to read right up front that this is not about the European Central Bank or its quantitative easing programme, a subject I’ve done my damnedest to avoid this week in the light of the crashing wave of coverage that’s washed over the world, much of it frankly uninspiring and serially repetitive.

The markets had pretty much done all of their positioning anyway so no great moves. Beyond that, all I’ll say is I’m not convinced at all that in and of itself it’ll get us to the desired end-game. But we’ll see.

No, I’m kicking off this week with the IFR Awards Gala Dinner, held this past Wednesday in London. In hailing it as yet another glittering success, I don’t care if I’m blowing my own trumpet because as well as a night to remember for the capital markets community, it was also a fabulous night to remember for Save the Children, which left with a grand total of £1,164,240 in generous donations from the banking community – albeit with some notable exceptions (you know who you are!).

Special and very gracious thanks to everyone who bid – and to our fine charity hosts Jonny Gould and Myleene Klass – but especially to our Bank of the Year Morgan Stanley, which donated an incredible £630,000 to become bookrunner of our interactive bond deal. The firm’s bid was master-minded by all-round good fellow Colm Kelleher, president of institutional securities, who also accepted the Bank of the Year trophy from HRH The Princess Royal, a long-time attendee of the IFR event and president of Save the Children.

Progress has been constant and the spirit of re-invention alive and kicking

IFR HAS BEEN giving out awards for excellence in global capital markets since 1980, but the gala dinner has been running for 20 years, a milestone for sure. I’d been thinking in the run-up to the event about the sheer amount of innovation, problem-solving, ideas generation – and of course capital-raising – the industry has achieved over that time for clients. Public issuance in the loan, bond and equity market between 1995 and the day of the IFR awards dinner this year amounted to almost US$166trn!

In short, it’s been truly impressive. Sure, there has been a fair amount of volatility and road bumps along the way. But it’s always been a case of learn from and deal with your mistakes, get over the set-backs and move on. A straight line it ain’t but progress has been constant and the spirit of re-invention alive and kicking. To that point, few have experienced that spirit like our Bank of the Year Morgan Stanley, which stood on the verge of liquidation in 2008 but which has rebuilt and reformed its way back to the top table.

And talking of volatility, as we were developing the kernel of the idea for our inaugural gala dinner and charity fund-raising from mid-1994 on, the markets were suffering a bout of breathtaking instability induced by dramatic and prolonged Fed rate tightening.

That first 25bp move up in February 1994 to 3.25% was modest on paper but it took everyone by surprise and caught them off-guard. But the relentless tightening moves one after another to 6% a year later pummelled those already floored by that first move into the ground. Mention that year to any hardened bond market veteran and you’ll get a sharp intake of breath and occasionally a tear. It was that painful. But we’ve all made it through the ups and downs and broadly speaking it’s been a hell of a lot of fun.

ONE OF THE things I’m most proud of over the period has been to have marshalled the charity fund-raising efforts over most of the past 20 years to the point where donations through the IFR awards dinner to Save the Children have now reached a grand total of £23,345,087. At average dollar/sterling exchange rates since 1995; that equates to a little over US$38.5m (it always sounds so much better in dollars!).

That’s awesome. I can’t claim the live bond syndication idea as my own – as editor at the time Simon Hylson-Smith reminded me this week, the idea came from a special dinner we arranged with all the banks’ PR heads to gather ideas. That idea has certainly paid dividends.

The funds we’ve mobilised have gone into the charity’s general funds, into the Children’s Emergency Fund (IFR was an anchor inaugural donor into the fund, which allows the organisation to respond very quickly to emergencies) and into some specific IFR-funded or co-funded projects.

Beyond emergency response, we’ve supported crucial work in China, Bangladesh, the Mekong Delta, Indonesia, and Mozambique; in the case of the latter we’ve funded ante-natal work, post-natal care as well as girls’ education projects. I’ve been out to see some of the work and it’s a humbling experience to know that the banking community is facilitating so much good for so many. And it’s not a cliché to say that together we’ve saved and bettered the lives of thousands of children.

Using a private equity lookalike model, I seek out where possible, in partnership with Save the Children, projects that have contingent grant funding from governments or the EU where funds donated through IFR can unlock those projects at the same time as achieving some sound leverage that extends our reach. You see: there is such a thing as good leverage! And in this case, the higher the better.

Get involved and make a difference!

Keith Mullin