As part of Euromoney's 50th anniversary coverage, we profile some of the biggest names that we interviewed for our April capital markets focus.

As part of Euromoney's 50th anniversary coverage, we profile some of the biggest names that we interviewed for our April capital markets focus.

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Extended results can be viewed here.

Best private banking services overall

Catching lightning in a bottle

Bank of America is due to close its acquisition of Merrill Lynch in March 2009 but it is still not clear what it plans to do with Merrill’s Latin American business.

The credit crisis has crossed the Pacific and hit home in Asia and is now even being felt in the streets of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of oil-rich Malaysia.

Even as they delever, shed assets, raise capital and hoard liquidity against further hits, banks know they must also fundamentally change the rotten underlying business practices that led them to disaster. If they can’t, even those that manage to survive this disaster will fall victim to the next. That’s if the regulators don’t shut them down first. Peter Lee reports on an industry trying to relearn the basics.

I hate to be the ugly fairy at the wedding but I'm starting to wonder if John Thain will turn out ot be Merrill's messiah after all.

The Merrill chief’s honeymoon is over. The question now is whether he’s guilty of misjudgment or mismanagement.

Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch has launched an investable index that the bank’s researchers say gives investors cleaner and more efficient access to US equity market volatility than products linked to the present benchmark, the Chicago Board Option Exchange’s Vix (Volatility Index). The Merrill Lynch US Forward Equity Variance Rolling (FEVR) index is designed to measure the performance of a long S&P 500 volatility strategy and follows the launch last year of a similar index in Europe, based on the volatility of the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50.

Having been hit by a series of defections in recent months, Deutsche Bank has acquired a new head for its Russian business.

Osman Semerci, Merrill Lynch’s former global head of fixed income, currencies and commodities, and co-president of the EMEA global markets and investment banking business, has joined $1.7 billion alternatives group Duet as its chief executive. Duet Group, which started in 2002 with just $10 million in a single fund, now has 14 funds, and is looking to further expand its range of strategies, in addition to growing its private equity business.

US investment bank Merrill Lynch has created a new infrastructure equities index, giving investors convenient access to the projected infrastructure boom in Russia.

Dimitri Psyllidis, co-head of EMEA FICC at Merrill Lynch has left the firm. David Gu was announced as sole head of EMEA FICC.

Despite reporting its first annual loss in 2007 and forecasts of further credit write-downs in the first quarter, Merrill Lynch is getting out the chequebook for its Latin American business.

The latest bout of blood-letting at the bank may only tarnish its reputation further.

The CEO suites of Wall Street have their first vacancy sign since the world learnt what sub-prime means.

The Merrill CEO had to go, but the firm he leaves is much stronger than the one he inherited.

When Stan O’Neal spoke at the Euromoney Forum in London in late June, concerns about the fallout from the sub-prime correction were at their height. In a wide-ranging interview with Euromoney’s editor, Clive Horwood, Merrill Lynch’s chairman and chief executive discussed the market’s reaction to sub-prime, and whether or not the contagion would spread.

The US firm manages to stay ahead of the competition by spearheading innovation, despite the fact that it also dominates the flow business.

Optimism that the launch of collateralized foreign exchange obligations (CFXO) would attract a new range of participants to the market (see Structured products: CFXOs bring in new investors, Euromoney June 2007) now looks well founded. Merrill Lynch says that it attracted more than €1 billion ($1.34 billion) for its recently launched CFXO, which is managed by Crédit Agricole Asset Management. "The deal went much better than we even expected," says Atanas Bostandjiev, managing director and head of structured rates and FX marketing, EMEA, at Merrill. "The roadshow in Europe alone raised the global target. Compared with CDOs that have been launched on non-traditional assets, this has been excellent."

Wall Street investment bankers were agog at the news. Could it really be that Jimmy Quigley, debt capital markets legend and icon of Merrill Lynch’s dominance of the primary bond markets in the 1990s, had become an accountant?

Merrill Lynch’s real estate team is looking decidedly thinner on the ground after a series of recent departures. CMBS head Nassar Hussain has left the bank along with John Bigley and Pascal Richard. They are understood to be heading off to different ventures: Hussain is rumoured to be setting up a Middle East-based property fund.

Hot off the press

Perhaps the biggest name to jump ship in the European debt syndicate world recently has been Marco Baldini. Baldini spent just under 12 years at Barclays Capital of which nearly 11 were on the debt syndicate desk, and he has now moved to Merrill Lynch.

Consolidation, fragmentation and segmentation

Merrill Lynch has appointed John Crompton as managing director and head of equity capital markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Summary table of top banks, with quick links to more related content on euromoney.com

* Harry Culham update: 6 February 2008

Merrill Lynch is believed poised to add to its lengthy list of global heads it has hired and fired over the last decade.

Summer torpor shattered by the sound of distant gunfire. Of what do I speak? The unexpected hostilities in southern Lebanon? Wealthy hedge fund managers stalking grouse on the verdant Scottish moors? Chuck Prince exercising with his personal trainer? Of course not. I am referring to the recent putsch at Merrill Lynch. “Just when I thought it was safe to poke my head above the parapet,” a Lyncher moaned, “I realize I need to don a balaclava.”

SpencerLake has joined HSBC as global head of debt capital markets after 17 years at Merrill Lynch. Lake had only recently been appointed to a newly created role of head of debt capital markets for the Asia-Pacific region at Merrill. He will be based in London and manage HSBC’s 250-strong origination team. He reports to Daniel Palmer, head of global capital markets.

Strength comes from the top. And it is from the tight-knit senior executive group that Stan O’Neal believes Merrill derives much of its strength.

The awards for excellence season is always an interesting time for Euromoney’s journalists. As we consider the relevant merits of different banks and their diverse businesses, there is an opportunity to get to the real heart of what makes a bank tick. To do that, you need to see the leader.

Under Stan O’Neal’s leadership, Merrill is back as a force to be reckoned with in investment banking.

What lessons did Stan O’Neal learn from the restructuring of Merrill Lynch at the turn of the decade? What are Merrill’s plans in mortgages, private equity and asset management? And what continues to drive Merrill’s CEO forward? O’Neal reveals all to Clive Horwood in his first in-depth interview since becoming the firm’s chairman and CEO.

Stan O’Neal’s story is unique in investment banking. Born in Roanake, Alabama (because his home town’s hospital refused to serve African Americans), raised in Wedowee (population 750), he was educated in a schoolhouse built by his grandfather, who was born a slave. O’Neal’s father moved his family from the cotton fields to Atlanta, where he worked on a General Motors assembly line. Stan O’Neal worked there as a teenager but GM spotted his strong intellect and sent him on a scholarship to the GM Institute, where he gained a degree in industrial administration. He then took an MBA in finance at Harvard, graduating in 1978.

When Stan O’Neal took over as president and CEO of Merrill Lynch in 2001, the thundering herd of the 1990s was clapped out. O’Neal imposed a ruthless cost-cutting strategy that saved the firm’s independence. Now his rebuilding plans are starting to bear fruit. Can Merrill heed the lessons of the past, but at the same time make it back to the pinnacle of investment banking? Clive Horwood reports.

Merrill Lynch has worked hard to fill the gaps in its CDO franchise this year and exported significant innovation into Europe.

Merrill Lynch has hired Tim Skeet as a covered bond product specialist reporting to Amir Hoveyda, European head of debt capital markets. He joins Merrill from ABN Amro where he was head of financial institutions origination for Germany and France. He joined the Dutch bank at the start of 2003, before that he held a senior FIG relationship banker role at Barclays Capital. Skeet is a veteran of the debt capital markets and one of the best-known faces in the covered bond sector. He started in the business some 25 years ago at Samuel Montagu.

Richard Longmore, head of EMEA FX sales, has abruptly left Merrill Lynch.

What’s going on at Merrill Lynch? The investment bank has posted impressive overall first-quarter results, as revenues hit the $8 billion mark, but the Latin American debt capital markets desk seems to be lagging.

What does Merrill Lynch’s $9.8 billion BlackRock deal mean for the European asset management industry?

Euromoney’s annual poll of polls shows that universal banks still dominate overall because of the breadth of their business. But firms such as Barclays Capital, Merrill Lynch and Société Générale are scoring notable successes in their chosen areas. Clive Horwood spoke to their heads of investment banking.

Amir Hoveyda has become sole head of EMEA debt capital markets at Merrill Lynch. Appointed joint DCM head a year ago, he will pass responsibility for financial institutions to Siddharth Prasad. Under Hoveyda, Merrill has enjoyed a significant success in hybrid capital. His former co-head, Spencer Lake, will now focus on the public sector and corporate coverage effort. Jan Pethick remains chairman of EMEA DCM, which comprises all origination activities across the fixed income universe, including cash and derivatives.

Mercury had great people and a great process. When Merrill Lynch paid £3 billion for Mercury in 1997, the former City Cinderella dominated asset management. But within a few years the name had gone, and so had many of Mercury's star managers. Angela Henshall analyses how the Mercury ethos has been exported to all segments of the industry, and why Mercury's acolytes are still calling all the shots.

BEST BANK

Return to UBS tops private banking poll

There is no room for nostalgia in the new-look Merrill Lynch. Charles Merrill might have wanted to bring Wall Street to the masses but it is the affluent who command the most attention from his successors. Since 2000, James Gorman has shaken up the private-client business with dramatic results.

Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch

Not for the first time, Merrill Lynch is making a push into forex. While the competitors sit back and wait for it to fail, Merrill insists that it will become a top-ranking firm. Katie Astbury reports.

Merrill Lynch wins a special award for most improved bank in fixed income partly because it has overhauled its technology, It has rolled out a number of new features, many of which are very sales-friendly. And it has done all this cheaply.

How much would you pay to dine with your CEO? Too much and you'll be seen as a creep, too little and you can wave goodbye to that promotion. That's the quandary facing Merrill Lynchers, who can bid for a tête-á-tête with Stan O'Neal - CEO in waiting.

Head of EMEA debt markets, Merrill Lynch

Awards for Excellence 2002

Merrill Lynch has merged its high-grade and high-yield research teams. So has JP Morgan. They say it provides quality coverage, especially for fallen angels. But is it really just cost cutting in a bear market?

Head of global debt markets group, Merrill Lynch

Lehman Brothers escaped across the river, its emergency relocation plan kicking in within minutes of the tragedy. Merrill did not fare quite as well.

David Komansky doesn’t step down as Merrill Lynch’s CEO until 2004 but he has recognized that his most important remaining task is to engineer a smooth succession. With the sector seemingly moving into a deep downturn this is all the more important. Antony Currie reports on the emergence of Stan O’Neal as Komansky’s anointed successor

The world’s best equity-linked house

The world’s best investment bank:

Merrill Lynch Investment Managers’ approach to the US institutional market can best be described as nascent. Until two months ago, there wasn’t even anyone charged with the responsibility for overseeing, developing or even simply describing Merrill’s US institutional business.

Merrill Lynch Investment Managers has been turned around from a poorly organized, underperforming, insular group overly focused on value investing and distribution to US retail. Now its performance looks strong, and it has a better balance of customers and investment styles. Even its acquisition of the troubled Mercury Asset Management seems finally to be paying dividends. Much of the credit goes to Jeff Peek, who took over in December 1997, bringing a breath of fresh air and a slew of judicious hires. He’s done so well that he’s in the running to head Merrill Lynch one day.

Colleagues describe Jeff Peek as straightforward, engaging, decent, and a man with a clear vision and a good sense of humour.

Head of investment banking for Merrill Lynch Europe, Middle East & Africa

Merrill Lynch is reshuffling its European investment banking division to create a new structured credit unit.

Merrill Lynch

What's the signiWcance of Merrill Lynch's decision to appoint a British banker, Kevan Watts, in London as co-head of its global investment banking group? "The location is clearly a large part of it but my background outside the US also played a role," Watts says. Watts joined Merrill in 1981 and spent 17 years toiling for it outside the US. He worked in advisory and Wnance for UK clients in the 1980s and recalls Xoating Euromoney in 1986 at £4.60 a share. "It's been a very successful company," he says.

Once branded the internet dullard, Merrill Lynch is on the offensive. More than a decade after the brokerage firm bought a bank in Utah, it’s launching a nationwide retail banking operation, based on the internet, and paying money-market rates on insured deposits. That, and its plans for a banking and investment-services joint-venture with HSBC, may take its head off the merger block. Antony Currie reports

The biggest opportunities for growth and profits in the fixed-income world in 2000 are in Europe. Corporate bonds, high-yield, securitization will flourish. There will be a fierce contest, as all manner of intermediaries - commercial and investment banks, Americans and Europeans fight for a place in the bond bulge bracket. According to the US model this should guarantee the eventual winners a honey-pot combination of high market share and profitability. The competition to hire the people - high-level originators, salesmen expert at advising institutional investors strategically, skilled and market-savvy credit analysts - will become ever more intense. Peter Lee's report heads a series of articles on the future of fixed income

Merrill Lynch has long been tipped to become the powerhouse in Asian equities. This year's survey of international investors shows that it has reached the summit, ranking first in pan-Asian research and execution. Its large-scale regional presence is paying off as Asian markets recover. And this time the recovery is built on stronger foundations than last year's ill-fated rally, says Marcus Walker. Research by Alexa Marx

For over a decade after 1987, when it first topped the US bond league tables, Merrill Lynch enjoyed unfettered growth, profitability and renown as the world's premier securities firm. Its mix of retail distribution, dependable income and worldwide expansion became the model for big investment banks to aspire to. Then, last year, things started to go wrong. Merrill's bond traders made huge losses, acquisitions in Japan and Canada produced sorry results, US asset managers put in a weak performance and clients defected from Mercury Asset Management. Most worrying, internet stock traders began to encroach on Merrill's retail business. For the past few months, the firm has licked its wounds, fended off merger rumours, and laid new plans. Now it's coming out fighting. Antony Currie reports.

An M&A flood has shaped the financial markets landscape of the past 12 months and seeped into almost every category of our global awards for excellence this year. Lots of banks and investment banks are riding the tide but none more so than Morgan Stanley, our best investment bank of 1999 and best M&A adviser. More than ever, acquisitions have been financed by big loans. That has helped underscore the dominance of Chase, our best bank. Citigroup's success in many categories provides evidence that Citi and Salomon are confounding the sceptics and learning to work together.

The leaders of 12 of the world's biggest financial institutions look back on their careers, reflect on how the financial markets have changed and spell out their visions of the future. HSBC's John Bond, Angel Corcóstegui of BSCH, Lloyds TSB's Peter Ellwood, ABN Amro's Jan Kalff, David Komansky of Merrill Lynch, André Lévy-Lang of Paribas, ING's Godfried van der Lugt, Bankers Trust's Frank Newman, Marcel Ospel of UBS, Joseph Roby of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette, Pedro Luís Uriarte of BBV and CSFB's Allan Wheat spoke to Euromoney

How do you combine a career in structured finance with trips to the Cannes film festival and seats at the best soccer matches in Europe? Dorian Klein, managing director of European structured finance at Merrill Lynch in London, makes it part of the job. For the past year and a half his team has worked with intellectual property rights, pulling off a major film rights securitization last year.

There aren't many real ex-rocket scientists for hire, but another area investment banks might look at is nuclear engineering - a skill that's becoming less sought after these days. Merrill Lynch's affable new hire Dante Roscini spent five years designing nuclear power plant before dwindling enthusiasm for the nuclear industry prompted a rethink. After business school he ended up at Goldman Sachs in 1988.

Proving that you don't have to be a heartless mercenary to be an investment banker more than 100 staff from the London office of Merrill Lynch last month volunteered to help Crisis, a UK charity, in its Christmas campaign to house London's homeless.

Different ways to skin a cat

Banking system or welfare state?

The financial markets have never stood still. But rarely have they moved as quickly as they do today. The winners of all our awards by product sector are facing the same forces. Globalization is driving the market and firms are responding by consolidating. Take a careful look at the winners. They are sure to be very different next year.

The secrecy of the negotiations and the price paid stunned the City into awed silence. Merrill Lynch's takeover was certainly a good deal for Mercury Asset Management's shareholders. But was Merrill so taken with the brand name that it underestimated the fund manager's problems? Mercury has little room for growth at home and has never had much success expanding abroad. Mercury wants to keep some independence, but how long before it gets Merrillized? Antony Currie reports.

Travel narrows the mind, say the cynics. Andreas von Buddenbrock, who is not the least bit cynical, is inclined to agree.

Michael von Clemm, former chairman of CSFB and Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, died on November 6 at the age of 62.