A new pecking order emerges in this year's definitive guide to the top-flight in finance. Deutsche Bank heads up the rankings, boosted by its acquisition-based charge into investment banking. Its $10 billion purchase of Bankers Trust, completed in June, continues the refocusing on corporate and institutional clients (GCI) that contributed over half of Deutsche's six month profits in the year to June. The bank is particularly strong in trading debt, derivatives and currencies. Weaknesses remain in equity research, Asian equity and M&A - areas in which second rankedMerrill Lynch still tops or is near the top of the league tables. After recent traumas Merrill has improved its debt underwriting score but is still let down by its lack of presence in the European short-term paper market and in risk management.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter has climbed in the overall rankings thanks largely to its role as second most active underwriter for international bond and equity issues this year. Its advisory ranking was boosted by much better credit research and M&A scores. Warburg Dillon Read has disappointed this year, with scores falling most dramatically in ECP and equity underwriting, equity and foreign exchange trading, risk management and credit research. BP Paribas failed to change its overall ranking despite a post-merger score 45% higher than in the January 1999 survey.
Lower down the rankings Commerzbank slips from 22nd to 26th place. Among newcomers to the top 25, Bear Stearns (up 5 places to 24) and SE-Banken (up 6 to 22) have risen steadily since the 1998 poll. Other consistent performers include Rabobank, Bank of New York, Svenska Handelsbanken and DG Bank.
All four have been helped by strong performances in the underwriting polls - Bear Stearns rises 59 places - while Svenska Handelsbanken's foreign exchange score makes it the highest climber in the trading section's top 50. The 70% increase in Chase Manhattan's foreign exchange trading score reverses the declining scores of the 1998-9 polls. The bank's acquisition of Hambrecht and Quist focused attention on the gap in Chase's armoury: its equity capability. Of the top 10 firms in the trading and advising polls only Chase fails to score in the equity sections. This may change next year. In the advisory polls a good year for credit research makes Dresdner Kleinwort Benson the highest climber and lifts Lehman Brothers into 13th position in the same section.
Overall results: Numbers 1-100
Overall results: 101-200
Overall results: 201-289
Underwriting 1-100
Underwriting 100-153
Trading 1-100
Trading 101-200
Trading 201-241
Advising 1-100
Advising 101-153
Methodology
The scores of this year's Poll of Polls were compiled using league tables and Euromoney surveys from 1999, as outlined below. An extended ranking can be found on our website at www.euromoney.com.
Underwriting
*Overall capital raising: market users' votes for best bank at raising capital
*Bonds: issuers' and syndicate chiefs' votes for best lead manager for top bookrunner in 10 categories; bookrunner league table of international bonds (source: Capital Data Bondware)
*MTNS: borrowers' votes for EMTN arrangers; EMTN arranger league table (source: Capital Net MTNWare)
*Euro-commercial paper: users' votes for ECP arrangers; ECP arranger league table (source: Capital Net CPWare)
*Equities: borrowers' and syndicates' views on global coordination, IPOs, privatizations, secondary offerings and block trades; global coordinator and bookrunner league tables of international equities (source: Capital Data Bondware)
Trading
*Eurobonds: chief bond dealers' votes for Eurobond trading
*Government bonds: votes for best bank at government bond trading
*MTNS: borrowers' nominations for best EMTN dealers; EMTN dealer league table (source: MTNWare)
*Euro-commercial paper: market users' views on best ECP dealers; ECP dealer league table (source: Capital Net CPWare)
*Derivatives: borrowers' and peers' views on top banks covering nine categories of interest-rate and currency swaps
*Equities: issuers' votes on equity execution
*Foreign exchange: corporate treasurers' and institutional investors' votes for the top houses by market share
Advising
*FX research: corporate treasurers' and institutional investors' nominations for foreign exchange research
*Risk management: borrowers' views on risk management
*Credit research: investors' votes for best providers of European credit research
*European equity research: votes on the best banks in the sector
*Asian equity research: investors' nominations for best Asian analyst
*M&A: worldwide league tables of advisors to target and acquirer companies for announced, pending and completed transactions (source:Thomson Financial Securities Data)
The survey was compiled using the following Euromoney polls published in 1999: credit research (April), foreign exchange (May), bond trading (May), global financing (September), Asian and European broking (September, October). League tables cover the period from January 1 to November 30 1999. For further information, please contact Andrew Newby on +44-171-779 8694 or E-mail him at anewby@euromoneyplc.com