The latest Thomson Reuters monthly loan market statistics for Asia Pacific (ex-Japan), covering the first four months of 2017, show the region got off to a sluggish start compared to the same period last year. There were 240 deals closed, with a volume of US$83.1 billion by the end of April 2017, the lowest since April 2012. Australia-New Zealand accounted for US$14.3 billion of the total, down by US$11.5 billion on the same period last year. Of this amount, just US$700 million has been raised for M&A deals over the year to date. Amid the gloom, ANZ boosted its reputation as an Asia-focused business bank, lifting five spots to third on the Thomson Reuters mandated APAC loan arrangers league table, and is sitting in second spot on the YTD APAC (ex-Japan) bookrunners table, well ahead of CBA (at 13th) and Westpac (17th).Bank of China and HSBC lead the tables for loan arrangers.