Top of the pile this year is RBS, coming first in investment grade and high yield, and second in trade ideas. The Scottish bank was ninth overall last year, and has risen several places in every category in the poll with the exception of ABS trade ideas and online trading analytics, maintaining last year’s position in both cases. This impressive performance caps a six-year building process for RBS’s research team, which began when Symon Drake-Brockman became head of debt markets in 2001. RBS claims the mantle from Société Générale, which won the poll last year after being nowhere the previous year. The French bank has again shown its research credentials by finishing second overall, while coming first for overall trade ideas. Europe’s banks have been outperforming their US rivals in the field of credit research for some time, with the exception of JPMorgan, which finished third in the poll with a spread of results broadly similar to last year’s, although with a slight drop in high yield and a moderate improvement in investment grade and ABS trade ideas. Also deserving of mention is Barclays Capital, one of the most consistent performers in the poll in recent years. Barcap scored outside the top 10 in only three categories this year, in trade ideas for CDS, cash and indices. Last year the UK bank was uniquely ranked in the top 10 in every single category. Bar a very small drop in trade ideas and also high yield, BarCap has continued that strong form into 2008.
Among the fallers, Dresdner Kleinwort came fifth overall in the poll, suffering a general downward movement in its results from last year. Other fallers in this year’s poll include UBS, which went from fourth to seventh in investment grade and from sixth to 10th in overall trade ideas. The Swiss bank did pick up votes in high yield though, climbing to fifth from 10th last year. UniCredit has also experienced a drop in the poll, falling to eighth from fifth in investment grade and eighth from fourth in high yield.
Citi, which was once a consistently strong performer in credit research, has fallen from 10th to 14th in investment grade, including a drop in investment-grade credit strategy from second to fourth. Citi had been first in this category for the three years before 2007.
The research houses that have done best in the poll are those that have maintained a strong commitment to credit research, especially in terms of the numbers of analysts it employs. In the future in what is uncharted territory for the world’s credit markets, that commitment will become more important than ever.
