Even in the age-conscious Euromarket where the best and the brightest, like policemen, seem to get younger, Bill Winters is a classic example of a fast-track career. Still only 35, he runs all of JP Morgan's fixed-income activities in Europe. Given Morgan's surge in primary underwriting and inherent strengths in swaps and derivatives, this makes him one of the most important individuals in the Euromarket. "Bill Winters' position is not dissimilar to Jimmy Forese at Salomon Brothers in London but Bill carries the Morgan calling card which gives him a definite advantage," comments a former Salomon managing director.
Certainly JP Morgan has cut a swathe through the Euromarkets in the past two years. While no-one doubted the bank's determination, the name or the depth of its financial resources, it was the rapidity of Morgan's ascent which took competitors by surprise. "They accomplished in two years what might have taken others five," says an admiring syndicate manager at Merrill Lynch. And Merrill should know. Since 1994 Merrill Lynch has dominated the primary Euromarket league tables. But who lay second behind Merrill at the end of the first quarter of this year? Yes, you've guessed it - JP Morgan.
What's behind JPM's success in the international debt capital markets? One of the conductors wielding the fixed-income baton is Bill Winters, the quintessential clean-cut all-American Morgan banker who has spent his entire working life with the bank. He was chosen to participate in Morgan's training programme and was then selected to join the elite oil and gas group, at the time the fastest expanding and most profitable division within the bank. Winters was not the only lucky Morgan trainee to be part of the oil and gas team whose subsequent careers have blossomed. Look first at Charlie Stonehill who went on to become a partner and substantial shareholder in Morgan Stanley and was recently appointed to head of investment banking at BZW. Then there was Ramon de Oliveira, currently in charge of all JP Morgan's equities business, who joined the bank in London when it was still called Morgan Guaranty Limited and whose skills came to the attention of a rising Morgan star Sandy Warner. Today Warner is chairman and chief executive of the bank.
From the oil and gas group Winters took an MBA at Wharton business school before joining Morgan's swaps marketing team and taking his first steps towards becoming a full-time bondie. Again Winters had been lucky in his assignment. The bank was a pioneer in swaps on the back of its AAA credit rating at that time. Morgan also had an excellent client base built around its long-standing commercial banking relationships. Morgan was a leader in syndicated loans, an active player in the then-fledgling emerging capital markets and the acknowledged leader in sovereign credit and corporate credit analysis.
With such fire-power Morgan's progress through the international fixed-income sector should have been easy. Winters confirms that by 1987 Morgan was probably the leading swaps and derivatives Euromarket house. His new fixed-income role didn't overlap with other Morgan Euromarket alumni including John McNiven and Connie Voldstad (both with Merrill Lynch) and Robert Gray who is now chairman of HSBC Markets. However, a key figure who remained was Joe Cook, formerly with Orion Bank, who did much to establish Morgan's name in the new issue market during the 1980s. Winters acknowledges that Morgan's bulge-bracket position in the Euromarkets today could not have been achieved without Cook and he also singles out the contribution of Georgino Saier, the head of European markets, Alain Grisay, the head of European sales, and the bank's two European heads of syndicate, Paul Hearn and Fawzi Kyriakos-Saad.
How does JP Morgan win so many juicy new issue mandates, including many from first-time Euromarket borrowers. First there's the bank's name. "No sovereign, agency or corporate borrower refuses to see a Morgan banker," comments one rival. Second, there are those long-established commercial banking relationships. However the most important factor, as Winters points out, is probably Morgan's team of 140 originators who criss-cross the globe and are famous for being able to identify new potential borrowers either through changing political boundaries or state privatization. "Today JP Morgan has probably more top-quality origination people on the ground or in the air than any other house," says a Goldman Sachs managing director. Winters is full of praise for his originators led by Eric Bertrand, who focuses on swap marketing, and the omnipresent veteran Cook, who specializes in funding. But he says modestly, Morgan benefits from its traditional strengts in swaps and its position as one of the most powerful government bond traders.
Bottom line
Does a strong primary market performance matter to Winters? He says that "league-table position isn't a goal but it's often the result of a sound, profitable business", and Winters' eye is never far off JP Morgan's bottom line. Which was the most profitable issue for the lead managers in the primary market last year? Almost every vote would be given to the Mexico $6 billion floating-rate note issue. Who were the lead managers? JP Morgan and SBC Warburg. "The fees from that deal alone will have doubled many of the participants' year-end bonuses," comments a co-manager.
Don't ask Bill Winters about bonuses for himself or his fixed-income group. In the typical tradition of JP Morgan understatement you would have a better chance of a quick response from the Sphinx. He admits to travelling for "about one third of the year", and he does take holidays with his family. Friends say that he was a butterfly champion at swimming and plays excellent tennis. We asked Bill to send a photo of his cannonball serve or holding more gold medals than Mark Spitz but, as you can see, that's not Morgan's style.