European trio seek to solve Asian puzzle

As Wall Street banks rebound powerfully in Asia Pacific and local Asian banks rise, particularly in their home markets, European investment banks have their work cut out. In Asia, the Europe-headquartered trio – Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank and UBS – have been tinkering with their strategies, cutting back in some areas, hiring and strengthening in others. These three natural continental European competitors (HSBC, Standard Chartered and, to an extent Barclays, have a very British competition of their own going on) are trying to position themselves correctly for market conditions that have been choppy at best, as well as investor sentiment that remains finely balanced and deepening competition.