European stockbroking is facing further consolidation in the next few years. Forthose firms not in the top half of the tables for pan-European research andexecution and for those that fail to make the top three slots in the individualcountry tables, survival will not be easy.
That is the stark conclusion of this year's European brokers' survey. Askedwhether the number of brokers they use in European markets is rising, falling orstable, over two-thirds of responding fund managers replied that the number wasfalling or stable. Although in the past 18 months there has been a flurry ofacquisitions among brokers jostling to cope with these new competitive realities- ABN Amro's acquisition of Alfred Berg, Merrill Lynch's acquisition of theUK's Smith New Court, Spain's FG Inversiones and Carnegie's Italian business, andDresdner Bank's acquisition of Kleinwort Benson - it is clear thatconsolidation is far from over.
As fund managers choose to deal with fewer brokers,...
