LONDON – At the 20th annual Thomson Reuters International Financing Review (IFR) awards gala dinner on Wednesday, 21 January £1,164,240 was pledged to Save the Children, the global charitable organisation that works to save and improve the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable children. Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal, President of Save the Children, attended the prestigious event to present Colm Kelleher, president of the Institutional Securities Group at Morgan Stanley, with the coveted “Bank of the Year Award” for 2014. Last night’s total takes the cumulative fundraising figure from the annual awards ceremony to £23,345,087million.

During the evening’s proceedings, senior representatives of the world’s leading investment banks pledged money to Save the Children via an interactive charity bidding board. Morgan Stanley topped the list of contributors with a phenomenal bid of £630,000, the largest ever Bookrunner bid to Save the Children in 20 years of IFR Awards history.

Douglas Rouse, Corporate Partnerships Director at Save the Children, said: “I would like to thank everyone at the IFR Awards Dinner for their incredible generosity not only last night, but over the past 20 years. Thanks to your ongoing support, Save the Children is able to continue its vital work saving the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable children. It is always so inspiring to see such engaged and passionate supporters and the difference the investment banking industry has helped us to make is absolutely phenomenal.”

The dinner, held in the Great Room of London’s Grosvenor House Hotel, and attended by over 1,000 senior investment bankers, was organised by IFR, the world’s leading source of capital markets intelligence. The IFR event is recognised as the key awards ceremony for global financiers and is Save the Children’s largest single annual fundraiser.

“I never cease to be amazed at the generosity of the capital markets community at the IFR awards dinner, now in their 20th year. Even with the tremendous progress made over the past few years in lowering child mortality and improving access to education and basic healthcare, so much still needs to be done. The funds donated by attendees at the IFR event will do so much to improve the lives of so many children,” said Keith Mullin, Editor-at-Large of IFR.

IFR award winners for 2014 include:

• Bank of the Year - Morgan Stanley
• Bond House - HSBC
• Equity House - Morgan Stanley
• Loan House - Citigroup
• Structured Finance House - Deutsche Bank
• Derivatives House - HSBC
• Restructuring Adviser - Moelis & Co
• Emerging Markets Bond House - Citigroup

Notes to Editors

IFR Awards

The IFR Awards are selected by IFR's expert capital markets journalists. Starting in October, the journalists start an exhausting round of interviews with hundreds of market participants. These meetings give an opportunity for capital markets professionals to stake their claim to individual awards and to give their views on the performance of their peers. They also give the reporters the chance to gauge the market’s thoughts on the most important transactions of the year. In addition, the IFR team takes soundings from treasurers and investors before deciding on a shortlist in each award category. The final decision is then made by the senior IFR editorial team.

Save the Children

Save the Children works in more than 120 countries including the UK. We save children's lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential. For more information visit www.savethechildren.org.uk.

IFR

Thomson Reuters International Financing Review is the leading source of fixed income, capital markets and investment banking news and commentary. IFR's team of market specialists report on capital raising across asset classes, from rumour through to market reception – in real-time, online, on mobile, in print – and now in Thomson Reuters Eikon. IFR’s special reports, roundtables and conferences provide expert thought leadership to a senior financial markets audience; IFR Awards are the industry’s most prestigious. Markets professionals worldwide rely on IFR’s combination of commentary, analysis, data and forecasting for intelligence they can act on.

Thomson Reuters

Thomson Reuters is the world's leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial and risk, legal, tax and accounting, intellectual property and science and media markets, powered by the world's most trusted news organization. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges. For more information, go to http://thomsonreuters.com/.           

CONTACT

Clare Arber
Thomson Reuters
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7542 6256
Email: clare.arber@thomsonreuters.com

Stephanie Aldrich
Save the Children
Tel: +44 (0)20 3763 0987
Email: s.aldrich@savethechildren.org.uk