Capital Issuance - December 2020

Capital issuance statistics consist of UK-based primary market issuance of bonds, commercial paper and equity, representing finance raised in the UK.
Published on 28 January 2021

Key points

  • Total capital issuance by all UK residents was £36.6bn in December, £0.7bn higher than in November but £4.5bn lower than the previous six month average.
  • Total bond issuance by the MFI sector was £13.7bn in December, £6.7bn higher than in November and £3.5bn higher than the previous six month average.
  • Total equity issuance by the PNFC sector was £1.6bn in December, £2.3bn lower than in November and £1.0bn lower than the previous six month average.
  • Total capital issuance across all instruments was £528.8bn in 2020, £67.6bn higher when compared to the previous year. Of this £528.8bn, bond issuance by the PNFC sector totalled £61.5bn, the highest amount issued annually on record.

In addition to the summary statistics contained within this release and the associated tables, the Bank publishes a number of more granular series; please see our Bankstats tables (E3.1) and the full list of series and interactive charts.

All sectors

  • Gross capital issuance by UK residents was £36.6bn in December, compared to £35.8bn in November and the previous six month average of £41.1bn (Chart 1).
  • Net capital issuance was -£2.5bn in December, compared to -£4.2bn in November and the previous six month average of £1.7bn (Chart 1).
  • Gross issuance in 2020 was £528.8bn, £67.7bn higher than the previous year (Chart 2).
  • Net issuance in 2020 was £62.0bn, £17.4bn higher than the previous year (Chart 3).

Chart 1: Total capital issuance by UK-residents (all currencies)

Non seasonally adjusted

Chart 2: Annual gross capital issuance by UK residents (all currencies)

Non seasonally adjusted

Chart 3: Annual net capital issuance by UK-residents (all currencies)

Non seasonally adjusted

Bond issuance

  • Gross bond issuance was £21.1bn in December, compared to £18.1bn in November and the previous six month average of £23.7bn (Chart 4).
  • Net bond issuance was -£1.5bn in December, compared to -£8.7bn in November and the previous six month average of -£0.2bn (Chart 4).
  • The increase in net issuance was driven by an increase in issuance by the MFI sector combined with a decrease in repayments by the PNFC and OFC sectors.

Chart 4: Bond issuance by UK-residents (all currencies)

Non seasonally adjusted

Commercial paper issuance

  • Gross commercial paper issuance was £13.3bn in December, the same as in the previous month but below the previous six month average of £14.5bn (Chart 5).
  • Net commercial paper issuance was -£3.0bn in December, compared to £0.2bn in November and the previous six month average of -£0.8bn (Chart 5).
  • The decrease in net issuance was driven by an increase in repayments by the PNFC sector.

Chart 5: Commercial paper issuance by UK-residents (all currencies)

Non seasonally adjusted

Equity issuance

  • Gross equity issuance was £2.2bn in December, compared to £4.5bn in November and the previous six month average of £2.9bn (Chart 6).
  • Net equity issuance was £2.0bn in December, compared to £4.3bn in November and the previous six month average of £2.7bn (Chart 6).
  • The decrease in net issuance was driven by a decrease in issuance by the PNFC sector.

Chart 6: Equity issuance by UK-residents (all currencies)

Non seasonally adjusted

Key

  • PNFC = Private non-financial corporation
  • MFI = Monetary financial institutions
  • OFC = Other financial corporations
  • Other sectors = Other sectors contains public corporations and non-profit institutions serving households
  • CP = Commercial paper

Queries

If you have any comments or queries with regard to this release please email DSDSecurities@bankofengland.gsi.gov.uk.

Next release date: 25 February 2021

Further data are available in Table E3.1 of our latest Bankstats tables.