Italy

Best bank
UniCredit Best debt house
JPMorgan

Best equities house
Merrill Lynch

Best M&A house
Lazard

Best local partner
Mediobanca

UniCredit remains the best bank in Italy despite the rapid improvement in fortunes of Banca Intesa. UniCredit offers a better return on equity than its rival, despite a capital increase, and is more active in bonds, syndicated loans, equities and M&A. It also has a better cost-income ratio.

Both UniCredit and Banca Intesa are suffering from low market rates in their domestic markets, and competition between them is close.