mtn-i 1^st Uridashi editors award “Hi 5’s”
AfDB social capital leadership

mtn-i’s 1st Uridashi Editor’s Award presented in Tokyo last month, recognises the African Development Bank’s leadership in Social Capital Market Development at a time when many of the worlds leading issuers are thinking about how to define and issue social and sustainable debt.

While some institutions have headed in the direction of branding all development finance sustainable in line with their development targeted investments, the AfDB has pursued a strategy of segmenting its vision, mandate, balance sheet and funding in pursuit of its overall objective to transform the continent’s future around five clear goals.

It’s Hi 5 social development goals – Light up and Power Africa; Feed Africa; Industrialise Africa; Integrate Africa; and Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa – thematically segment most of the United Nations 17 development goals.

Micro Targeting

This mtn-i Editor’s Award recognises how the sale and marketing of Uridashi notes linked to these Hi 5 themes gives retail investors a very clear connection between their investment and the AfDB’s vision and impact. The initial focus on issuance of notes linked to “Improve the Quality of Life for the People of Africa” makes that clear and opens the door to building demand for the other Hi 5 goals.

The bank sold 31 deals branded to Improve the Lives of the People of Africa to Uridashi retail investors in the year to September. The trades emerged in 6 currencies and sizes as small as USD 1 million equivalent in order to micro target and nurture rapidly growing retail investor for social bonds.

AfDB has raised privately placed funding under its MTN programme since the late 1990s, has an office in Tokyo, a Japanese language website and works in collaboration with local securities houses.

Philanthropic Returns

Uridashi investor interest in philanthropic as well as economic returns has made Japanese retail a longstanding leader in SRI investing – particularly social bonds – where appetite for products which directly save and improve lives has proved core to the global market’s development. This dates back as far as inspiring the success with IFFim’s vaccination bonds nearly a decade ago – funding credited by the WHO as saving the lives of 500 million children. Today demand for social bonds – the fastest growing SRI segment globally is strongest in the Uridashi market. It’s a decade long case study in the potential that capital market visionaries now see as the future role capital markets can play in saving and improving the planet and the lives of its inhabitants and one which mtn-i first recognised with our Global mtn-i Editor’s Award to IFFim in 2010.

This SRI goal for capital market influence is no better recognised than by our 1st Uridashi Editor’s Award to the African Development Bank for Social Capital Market Development.

Recognising Uridashi

mtn-i is delighted to announce the winners of the 1^st mtn-i Uridashi Awards which we look forward to presenting at a reception at Moodboard Tokyo on 23^rd October, celebrating the significance and success of the Uridashi market that these awards collectively honour.

An amazing 20 institutions made pitch calls or met face to face with our editorial team in London and Tokyo – a sign of the importance and enthusiasm dealers and issuers attach to the Uridashi market.

We weighed these with our own analysis of the market’s key themes, trends and performances, using the mtn-i data and analytics platform to crunch 1,500 Uridashi sales totalling USD33bn we identified in the last year – and reported in our daily news coverage.

Spotlighting success

The most exciting thing about these awards is the spotlight they cast on one of the world’s most established, deepest retail capital markets. Uridashi’s have featured in mtn-i’s international capital market news and data since 2001. Now at mtn-i Uridashi we are launching a dedicated news and data platform in which the Uridashi Awards will be a key component.

Our 1^st Uridashi Awards reveal the range and depth of the market’s products, its issuers, dealers, and distributors. The recognitions span 5 structured asset classes, international and Japanese issuers and dealers and local independent securities houses.

World leadership

mtn-i Awards are always about revealing the value and relevance of private debt markets as sources of capital and yield solutions for investors and as incubators of innovation that often turns into leadership across global capital markets.

These awards reveal how much the Uridashi market really is a world leader as one of the longest established sources of international capital, a creator of yield solutions in a zero rate environment for a decade longer than any other economy and an investor base that has pioneered demand for Green and Social Bonds nearly decade before it became seen as the future of international capital markets.

The eponymous Mrs Watanabe and ultra-high net worth lower profile private wealth counterparts have such proven track records of FX and equity-linked structured note buying that there’s talk of indexing Uridashi buying habits as an asset management strategy in its own right. So we sincerely hope our recognitions pay appropriate honour to that leadership.

Categoric recognition

Our unique series of categories are designed to capture showcase capital market strength, depth, leadership and innovation.Traditional Deals of the Year and Dealers and Issuers of the Year are complimented by our Rising Star, Power Performer, Investor Solutions and Editors Award – so that we can reveal a deeper picture of value, potential and market direction.

Philanthropic leadership

Uridashi investor interest in philanthropic as well as economic returns has made it a longstanding leader in SRI investing – particularly social bonds – where appetite for bonds which directly save and improve lives has proved core to the global market’s development. This dates back as far as inspiring the success with IFFim’s vaccination bonds nearly a decade ago – funding credited by the WHO as saving the lives of 500m children. Today demand for Social bonds – the fastest growing SRI segment globally is strongest in Uridashi. It’s a decade long case study in the potential that capital market visionaries now see as the future role capital markets can play in saving and improving the planet and the lives of its inhabitants.

Visionary capital goals

This SRI goal for capital market influence is no better recognised than by our Editor’s Award to the African Development Bank. It’s visionary segmented and branded Hi 5 social development goals designed to transform the African continent thematically embrace most of the United Nations development goals. AfDB’s sale of 31 deals branded to Improve the Lives of the People of Africa emerged in size and currencies designed to meet and nurture the smallest pockets of retail investor appetite.

While in volume terms – SRI Uridashis are still a small segment of the market, our six SRI related awards reflect Japanese retail investor appetite for innovation and leadership in an asset class predicted to dominate global debt markets in the decades to come. At the cutting edge of innovation our Deal of the Year award for Monex’s Tokyo Temperature bond – one of the first globally to give investors returns driven by the impact of global warming in note format.

Across asset classes

More than half our awards recognise investor demand for yield enhancement through structured products. Fittingly the recognitions span our Deal of the Year, Investor Solutions, Rising Star, and Dealer of the Year and Power Performer awards won by MUFG and Tokai Tokyo respectively. They reflect the performance of the biggest dealers in these spaces and the strength of demand for FX, equity linked deals, the growth of new pay out types, the combination of structured asset classes in hybrid formats and even the reaching out into other product classes such as ETFs. The return of interest in the idea of rising rates is also recognised by several awards.

Capital access

As a source of funding, the Uridashi market has proved one of the most cost effective and consistently available pools of capital for decades. Our Issuer of the Year Award recognises cross asset class exploitation of demand that made MuniFin the most active third-party issuer of Uridashi in a year when MiFID II considerations kept some borrowers out of the market. We’ve also recognised purely vanilla fundraising for Toyota’s exploitation for renewed appetite for US dollar paper to the tune of more than USD2.5bn.

Celebrating Uridashi

Thank you so much to everyone who pitched for and advised us on these awards. We hope you agree that collectively our 1st Uridashi awards recognise and celebrate the significance of the Uridashi market itself – and that you will join us in that spirit at Mood Board Tokyo on October 23!

We look forward to seeing you there – and until then in our daily coverage of all Uridashi marketing launches and deal pricings here at www.mtn-i.com.

Click here to see all our award winners!

Click here to join the awards celebrations at Moodboard, October 23!

Click here to access mtn-i’s USD340bn Uridashi data and analytics platform, daily news, search and alert tools.