RBC getting more resumes as it becomes No. 2 U.S. municipal underwriter

financialpost.com:

RBC Capital Markets is having its best year on record, propelling the Canadian bank to become the No. 2 underwriter of United States state and local debt.

Its public finance team led by Bob Spangler has risen three spots this year on Bloomberg’s ranking of underwriters to its highest position ever and the best performance of a foreign bank. The top slots have been historically reserved for American behemoths including Bank of America Corp., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc.

RBC has been credited with managing over US$32 billion of long-term municipal bonds this year, amounting to more than nine per cent of overall sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s up 2.7 percentage points from last year, one of the largest gains of any bank, the data shows.

“All of our sector practices outperformed and that allowed us to really rise up in the marketplace,” Spangler, head of municipal finance, said.

“What we do well in the market has done well this year,” said Spangler, noting that RBC has long dominated in sectors that have outperformed: housing, health care, public power and higher education.

For instance, RBC continues to command in so-called prepaid gas contract bond sales that help utilities get a discount on fuel costs, a large niche in the municipal-bond market. Those types of deals tend to be hundreds of millions of dollars, and this year has seen record issuance.

Other large banks haven’t had such a positive 2023 as they cull senior staff and see declining market share amid the elevated interest-rate environment. Muni bond issuance was lacklustre in 2023 and 2022 due to higher rates. UBS Group AG announced in October it would exit a key part of the underwriting business. And Bloomberg reported in