Tuesday, Wednesday 28, 2019 Stamford, CT USA — A surge in trading of secondary investment-grade credit last year provided the back drop to the fixed-income business of Canadian bank brokers and more specifically TD Securities, RBC Capital Markets and BMO Capital Markets.

These three firms are the leading dealers in the credit segment, and also rank among the 2019 Greenwich Share and Quality Leaders in Overall Canadian Fixed Income. A new report from Greenwich Associates, A Rocky Year for Credit in Canada, provides the full list 2019 Leaders.

An extended period of low interest rates caused investors to add risk to their portfolios in a hunt for needed returns. With interest rates rising from historically low levels, for most of 2018, markets saw credit spreads tighten and demand intensify. That search for yield, combined with an uptick in market volatility in Q4, helped fuel a 40% increase in the secondary trading volume of investment-grade credit in Canada for the twelve months ending in the spring of this year.

“Beside the three leaders, kudos to CIBC for their performance, which resulted in gains in both service quality and market share across credit,” says Greenwich Associates consultant Peter Kane.

Of course, in terms of volume, investment-grade credit represents a relatively small slice of the overall Canadian bond market. Across Canadian fixed income—and for the second year running—TD Securities and RBC Capital Markets are the overall market share winners, followed by BMO Capital Markets, CIBC and Scotiabank. These dealers share the title of 2019 Greenwich Share Leaders in Overall Canadian Fixed-Income Market Share.

“TD and RBC continue to sail ahead at the top of the market,” says Peter Kane. “They both pulled out all the stops last year in terms of sales and service quality, and they are now reaping the rewards with increased market share and investor loyalty.”

BMO Capital Markets claims the title of 2019 Greenwich Quality Leader in Canadian Fixed-Income Research. The 2019 Quality Leaders in Canadian Fixed-Income Trading are TD Securities and RBC Capital Markets, and this year’s Greenwich Quality Leaders in Fixed-Income Sales are TD Securities, RBC Capital Markets and BMO Capital Markets.

Most Helpful Analysts and Traders
For the first time, Greenwich Associates presents a list of the Canadian fixed-income market’s most helpful analysts and traders, as named by the 106 institutional investors participating in our 2019 Canadian Fixed-Income Investors Study.