EXANE GRABS TOP PRIZE AT EXTEL AWARDS.
Exane BNP moved up the ranks to take the top prize for equities in this year’s Extel Survey which is often dubbed as the Oscars of the City. The French bank beat UBS and Morgan Stanley who came in second and third respectively.
For the last two years, Morgan Stanley has been named the leading pan-European brokerage firm for equity and equity-linked research. Prior to that, since 2000, only UBS – for a dozen years – and Bank of America Merrill Lynch were in the enviable number one spot.
Exane BNP Paribas bolstered its equity capital markets business in January with three hires, including Andreas Bernstorff, who joined from Citigroup as head of ECM in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The bank also brought in Bénédicte Thibord from Kepler Cheuvreux to become global head of corporate access, and Phil Griffith joined from Morgan Stanley as deputy head of equity sales.
The results of 2017 carried added significance in the run-up to MiFID II. The unbundling requirement is shining an ever-brighter light onto the quality of investment banks’ research capabilities and in order to be relevant, brokerage houses need to be among the top three.
On Equity Trading & Execution, Kepler Cheuvreux made a very impressive move up from 10th to 3rd. They are now 1st in Electronic Trading, #1 in High-Touch Sales Trading, 3rd in Delta One/ETFs and 9th in Program/Portfolio Trading. Kepler Cheuvreux are one of the few agency-only brokers in Europe that own their execution technology (in-house R&D).
As Ben Spruntulis, head of research at Exane BNP Paribas, said: “MiFID II will fundamentally change the way equity advisory services are priced, delivered and consumed. We believe that top people, quality product and great service will be more important than ever.”
As for other results, UBS retained its crown as the leading bank for equity trading and execution, followed by Morgan Stanley and Kepler Cheuvreux. However, the Swiss bank lost its pole ranking in the category for equity sales, dropping out of the top three spots, which were filled by Exane BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Merrill Lynch, respectively.
On the asset management front, J.P. Morgan Asset Management kept a firm grip as the number one ranked fund manager while Amundi Asset Management came in second and Allianz Global Investors in third, a drop from second last year. In terms of equity trading acumen, the winners were Lupus Alpha Asset Management, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management and EFG Bank.
The 2017 pan-European survey elicited a larger participation than ever before with over 600 rankings covering equity sectors, economics and strategy, equity derivatives, emerging markets, and UK small & mid-caps categories.
©TheDESK 2017
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