Large balance sheets will be important to success in the Southern Europe debt capital markets in 2002, as bankers face another tough year amid intense competition for bond mandates and low new issuance volumes.

As prominent corporate borrowers prepare to cut, rather than add to their debt, the task for origination bankers has become even more difficult. As one Iberia-based banker says: 'Spain is the easiest market in Europe to win a mandate in, but the hardest to make money in.'