This paper analyses the main trends in the private sector’s issuance activity in international
capital markets during 2021, a year in which, despite positive developments that resulted
in volumes above pre-2020 levels, the record 2020 figures were not achieved. Thus, the
total issuance volume of debt securities declined due to lower issuance in the non-financial
corporate sector, which may have been driven by the large amount of funds raised during
2020, lower funding needs for precautionary reasons in view of the improved health situation
and higher funding costs. However, bond issuance by the banking sector and other financial
institutions increased; this growth was concentrated in the United States, on expectations
of monetary policy tightening in that area and regulatory factors. High-yield bond issuance
also increased, benefiting from lower risk aversion. By region, the sharpest declines were in
the United States, followed by the United Kingdom and the euro area. Conversely, issuance
in the equity markets was strong and surpassed the 2020 figures
