Geopolitical uncertainty in the fourth quarter cooled loan market issuance in the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions, but not enough to significantly impair 23% year-on-year (YoY) growth, according to Dealogic data.

During a year when loan markets responded to interest-rate cuts in most major economies around the world, high volumes in 2024 have been based largely on refinancing existing leveraged debt. This combination has carried volume in the Americas to an all-time high, while EMEA soared to its best year since the post-pandemic boom of 2021.

The Americas added USD 738bn in 4Q24 for a full-year total of USD 3.5trn, the highest number recorded in Dealogic’s database. Volume, which tends to edge up slightly over the final couple of weeks of the year, has already surpassed 2021’s USD 3.47trn. FY24 volume has risen 37% in YoY comparisons, despite the slowdown in 2H24, when the USD 741bn and USD 738bn printed in the third and fourth quarters, respectively, made up the region’s lowest quarterly volumes of the year.

Recovery has also been the watchword in EMEA markets, with FY24’s sum of USD 1.34trn-equivalent standing 15% above FY23’s total. This means 2024 had the second-highest volume of the past six years, sitting behind only 2021 (USD 1.5trn). As was the case in the Americas, EMEA’s 4Q24 volume (USD 246bn-equivalent) represents its worst quarterly return of the year.

Figures for APAC, which had reached USD 625bn at the time of writing, may yet increase before year-end, giving the region volume of around USD 700bn, close to that of the previous two years. Volumes in 1Q24-3Q24 were in line with those of 2022 and 2023.

Combined, the three regions’ FY24 issuance totals USD 5.5trn, 23% above last year. This figure is higher than 2022 (USD 5.16trn), but 5.2% down on 2021’s USD 5.8trn.