UK

Best bank
Royal Bank of Scotland Best debt house
Barclays Capital

Best equities house
UBS

Best M&A house
Merrill Lynch

Best local partner
Collins Stewart

Royal Bank of Scotland is attracting attention across Europe for its increasing presence in a range of products including lending and securitization, in which it now has a portfolio across the region. In FX, too, it is now comfortably a top 10 bank globally. Corporate and investment banking gross profits for 2003 were up 11% over the previous year, at £7.15