Primary debt market bankers look set for a long and hard struggle in 2015, to judge by issuance in the first quarter, which slumped to multi-year lows on several fronts.

What will be more demoralising to many bond arrangers is the fact that the biggest DCM firms seem to be weathering the slump better than their rivals after a fast start to the year that saw them further stretch the market share advantage they held over rivals over the course of last year.