Who is leading Singapore's bond underwriting race?

HSBC was kicked out of the top spot.

DBS has emerged as the clear winner when it comes to underwriting bonds issuances in Singapore, but foreign banks still dominate the debt capital market league table.

Thomson Reuters data show that DBS led the Singapore-issued bonds underwriting in Q1 with related proceeds of US$949.0 million, a staggering 97.2% year-on-year surge. DBS also accounts for 14.3% of the market share.

However, foreign banks clinched 8 of the ten spots in the league table. Credit Suisse led the pack with US$548.9m in proceeds, followed by Goldman Sachs with $517.2m in proceeds.

HSBC claimed the fourth spot with $510.9m in proceeds, followed by Deutsche Bank with $476.3m in proceeds.

The only other local bank among the top ten is OCBC, which is ranked 9th with US$393.4m in proceeds.

Thomson Reuters data show that primary bond offerings from Singapore-domiciled issuers reached US$6.6 billion in Q1, a 7.7% increase in proceeds from the first quarter of 2015, as local companies tapped both domestic and offshore bond markets to raise funds.

This is the highest first quarter period in terms of proceeds since 2013, when proceeds reached US$7.6 billion.

Singapore issuers tapped the US-dollar bond market and raised US$1.1 billion, down 43.6% in proceeds compared to the same period last year.

Meanwhile, euro-denominated bonds issued by Singapore companies reached US$3.1 billion, a significant increase compared to the US$634.6 million issuance in the first quarter of 2015.

Singapore-dollar bond market reached S$3.8 billion (US$2.6 billion) so far this year, a 21.6% decline in proceeds compared to the same period last year.