Structured credit poll 2007: Top five keep on innovating

In many ways the structured credit market is maturing, but the product range shows no signs of stabilizing as banks continue to present fresh ideas to investors. Jethro Wookey looks at the trends emerging from what has swiftly become a vital cog in the financial markets.

THE STRUCTURED CREDIT market continues to grow in leaps and bounds. What was merely a vehicle for the transference of risk off bank balance sheets just a few years ago has grown to become a major feature of many investment banks’ core strategies. The Euromoney structured credit poll identifies the institutions that have most comprehensively and most competently embraced this innovative and increasingly important market. And although it is still a relatively new market that changes almost daily, key trends and key players have already become established.

This year’s poll reveals a clear top five of structured credit houses. These banks collectively make up the top five positions in nine of the poll’s 16 categories. None of them is outside the top seven in any category. They are Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Société Générale, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers. Although other banks distinguish themselves in various categories, such as Barclays Capital in restructuring capabilities and Morgan Stanley in research, there is none, according to the poll’s respondents, that challenges this top five in structured credit.