J.P. Morgan Heads 2014 All-Europe Fixed-Income Research Team
For a fourth year running, J.P. Morgan leads the All-Europe Fixed-Income Research Team, Institutional Investor’s annual ranking of the region’s best credit analysts and strategists. The firm captures 19 positions, two more than last year and four more than second-place Bank of America Merrill Lynch, which climbs one level after increasing its total by two. Its advance bumps Barclays, whose total dips from 14 to 13, down to third place. Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley repeat in fourth and fifth places, with 12 and seven spots, respectively.
Barclays is home to more analysts and teams deemed the best in their respective sectors, eight, than any other firm. Deutsche Bank comes in second when firms are measured by this metric — it captures five No. 1 finishes this year — followed by J.P. Morgan in third, with four. BNP Paribas, Morgan Stanley and Royal Bank of Scotland earn one first-place position each.
The survey’s 20 sectors are grouped under three headings: High Yield, Investment Grade and Economics & Strategy. When results in each category are viewed independently, BofA Merrill, Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan share top honors in High Yield; and J.P. Morgan leads Investment Grade and ties with BofA Merrill for first place in Economics & Strategy.
James Reid matches a goal he first achieved in 2012. The Deutsche Bank analyst helms the crew that earns the highest honors in three sectors: General Strategy, High-Yield Strategy and Investment-Grade Strategy. Reid has led teams to first place an incredible ten times in just four years, and his squads have never slipped below second place in any of these categories. Indeed, he has guided his analysts to the summit in General Strategy and Investment-Grade Strategy every year since this survey was introduced in 2011.
Three other teams celebrate their fourth consecutive appearance at No. 1 this year: the Economics group led by Gilles Moec and Mark Wall at Deutsche Bank; J.P. Morgan’s High-Yield Technology, Media & Telecommunications troupe under David Caldana and Andrew Webb; and the Banking & Financial Services crew captained by Jacqueline Ineke at Morgan Stanley.
They are among the 15 teams that return atop their sectors. Two others climb from second place (J.P. Morgan’s High-Yield Basic Materials team piloted by Nitin Dias and Stephanie Renegar, and Royal Bank of Scotland’s Interest Rate Strategy squad under Andrew Roberts and Harvinder Sian) and one from third (Barclays’s Investment-Grade Retailing/Consumer Products crew directed by Karine Elias). Two of this year’s sector leaders didn’t rank last year because their coverage areas, both of which are in the Investment-Grade space, didn’t produce publishable results: Barclays’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications team shepherded by Daniel Rekrut; and James Sparrow, who reports on Utilities for BNP Paribas.
Of the squads that earn one or more of this year’s 59 top-three spots (voter participation was insufficient to award third place in Credit Derivatives), 39 captured a first-, second- or third-place position in 2013. Eleven advance from runner-up, and nine didn’t appear on last year’s team.
J.P. Morgan is home to the highest number of those rising runners-up, with four, followed by BofA Merrill, with three, and Deutsche Bank, with two. Barclays and Morgan Stanley are home to one gainer each.
J.P. Morgan also employs the leaders whose names appear most often in a top-three position. Dias and Renegar direct four such teams, two each in High Yield and Investment Grade: those that finish first and third in Basic Materials, respectively, and at No. 2 in Manufacturing/General Industrials. Patrick Kersting of Bank of America Merrill Lynch co-captains squads that capture third place in three in High-Yield sectors: two with Navaan Ty, in Basic Materials and Retailing/Consumer Products, and one with Teofilo Lasarte, in Manufacturing/General Industrials.
Looking beyond the top three, Morgan Stanley’s Andrew Sheets pilots crews that finish third in High-Yield Strategy and earn runner-up positions in General Strategy and Investment-Grade Strategy, and co-captains (with Phanikiran Naraparaju) the No. 2 team in Credit Derivatives.
The 2014 All-Europe Fixed-Income Research Team reflects the opinions of more than 740 investment professionals at 386 buy-side institutions that collectively manage an estimated $6.5 trillion in European fixed-income assets.
The navigation table at right includes links that lead to tables showing firms ranked by total number of positions overall and by their totals in each category (Economics & Strategy, High Yield and Investment Grade). Each of these leaders tables includes a companion roster showing how the firms fare when their results are weighted, with a rating of 4 assigned to each first-place team, 3 to each second-place team, 2 to each third-place team, and 1 to each runner-up team.
Click on the Best Analysts of the Year in the navigation table to view profiles of the teams in first, second and third places and to find information about when each firm debuted in its sector, the total number of appearances it has amassed to date, its total appearances at No. 1 (where applicable), comments from money managers about what distinguishes each team from its peers and comments from current team leaders. Also available at that link is a list of teams that earn a runner-up spot in each sector. Please note: Information about teams in the second and third positions, and runners-up, is available to subscribers only.
For more information about how this ranking was compiled, click on Methodology.
Picking the Team
To select the members of the fourth annual All-Europe Fixed-Income Research Team, Institutional Investor sent questionnaires to bond and credit specialists at leading money management firms around the world. We received responses from more than 740 investment professionals at 386 buy-side institutions that collectively manage an estimated $6.5 trillion in European fixed-income assets.
Respondents vote for individual analysts or for a firm’s entire team; these votes are combined for firms in each sector. A numerical score is produced for each firm by weighting each vote based on the respondent’s European fixed-income assets under management and on the place awarded (first, second, third or fourth) to the firm or individual. A team is designated runner-up when its score falls within 35 percent of the third-teamer’s score.
The names of those surveyed and the institutions they work for are kept confidential to ensure their continuing cooperation. Voters must meet eligibility requirements, and winners must achieve a minimum vote count. All ballots are subject to review by our Research Operations Group, and final results may be inspected by an independent auditor.
This year’s All-Europe Fixed-Income Research Team survey produced complete publishable results (first through third place) in 18 of the 20 polled sectors. Two teams share second place in Interest Rate Strategy, and voter participation was only sufficient to recognize first- and second-place teams in Credit Derivatives.
The analyst recognized as the leader of each winning group is either the individual designated as team leader by the firm or the analyst recognized most frequently by investors. In the High-Yield and Investment-Grade research categories, only those analysts who publish independent research as defined by the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority are eligible to be recognized as team leaders. No such restriction applies to team leaders in Economics & Strategy. Analysts who switched firms after October 25, 2013, are cited at their previous organizations.
Senior Contributing Writers Pam Baker, Carolyn Koo and Ben Mattlin, and Editorial Research Assistant Georgina Hurst, wrote the accompanying team profiles. References to sector performances are based on MSCI Europe indexes and given in local currencies, unless otherwise noted.
The 2014 All-Europe Fixed-Income Research Team ranking was compiled by Senior Research Editor Tucker Ewing, Associate Research Editor Denise Hoguet and Researchers Denise Best, Amy Kong and Jillian Michalek under the guidance of Thomas W. Johnson, Director of Research.
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