Dealer Rankings 2017: Reasons to be cheerful

**The results of the dealer rankings poll and the associated feature are protected under copyright laws. Reproduction of the feature and/or the poll results, for either internal or external distribution, is strictly prohibited without the prior written permission of Total Derivatives.**

For information on reprints of the rankings, and permission to reproduce the results in any form, please contact sunil.sharma@totalderivatives.com or call +44 (0)20 7779 8556.


Dealer Rankings: Reasons to be cheerful
Will 2018 see a further improvement in the environment for rates trading? The breakout into higher ranges for yields and vol that many dealers had hoped for last year didn’t arrive but there are reasons to be cheerful about 2018. Economic data and risky assets are strengthening even if the valuations of the latter are increasingly eye-catching. Central banks are continuing to dial back quantitative easing and tighten rates but cautiously rather than aggressively. The regulatory environment looks broadly supportive. European trading has weathered the introduction of MiFID II and bond issuance has started strongly. The FRTB has been delayed and LIBOR has a few more years of life left even if markets are planning its funeral. Bad bank divisions have been wound up and balance sheets are closer to desired levels after rounds of cuts and compression. The US tax package has passed and the US Treasury has outlined its plans for easing financial regulation. Electronic trading and machine learning continue their advance in the sell side and the buy side. And while the damage from Brexit has yet to be decided, at least London markets can enjoy a royal wedding before the exodus begins.

The results
Total Derivatives’ rankings are the most comprehensive peer review of dealers’ performance in interest rate derivatives. There were 980 individual responses to the latest survey registering a total of over 2,800 votes. Experienced professionals involved in trading, sales and marketing, structuring and strategy at investment banks formed the largest group of respondents, with portfolio managers at asset managers and hedge funds also taking part. Voting took place in November and December 2017.

Voters are asked to rank the top three dealers (other than their own institution) based on reliability of market-making, keenness of pricing, depth of liquidity provision, speed of execution, access to e-trading platforms, efficiency of post-trade processing and product innovation. Market-makers are ranked in dollars, euro, yen and sterling. Product categories include two year to 10 year interest rate swaps, 10 year to 50 year interest rate swaps, inflation (cash and derivatives), interest rate options, cross-currency basis swaps and interest rate structured MTNs.

The latest Total Derivatives Dealer Rankings found JP Morgan again taking global first place when looking across all product categories and currencies. Barclays took global second place and Deutsche Bank moved up to global third, with Citigroup and BAML close behind.

By market, JP Morgan retained the top slot for USD derivatives followed by BAML in second and Citigroup in third. JP Morgan was also first for EUR while Deutsche Bank moved back up to second in EUR and BNP Paribas was third. Barclays moved up to first in GBP derivatives ahead of NatWest Markets. And Nomura remained first in JPY derivatives.

Across products, JP Morgan moved up to take first in global inflation just ahead of Barclays and BAML. JP Morgan held firmly onto its lead in global options, but Barclays moved up to second in options and Citigroup rose to third. Morgan Stanley rose to first for interest rate structured MTNs with Goldman Sachs edged into second place and JPMorgan third.

Looking by market and product, JP Morgan held the top slot for USD IRS trading for both the 2-10 year and 10-50 year buckets, ahead of Citigroup and BAML – the latter edging Goldman Sachs out of the top three this year. JP Morgan was also first in USD options, in front of Citigroup in second and BAML in third. It also took the top slot for USD inflation just ahead of BAML in second and Citigroup in third. Dollar structured MTNs were led by Morgan Stanley followed by JP Morgan, with Goldman Sachs just behind in third.

In EUR IRS, Deutsche Bank rose to first place for 2-10 year swaps and second for the 10-50 year bucket. That was ahead of JP Morgan and then BNP Paribas in 2-10 year swaps. JP Morgan was first for 10-50y EUR swaps followed by Deutsche Bank, while Barclays was third. In EUR options trading, JP Morgan remained ahead of BNP Paribas and Deutsche Bank. Barclays rose to take back the first place for EUR inflation, ahead of BNP Paribas and JP Morgan. Morgan Stanley took first place for EUR structured MTNs jointly with Deutsche Bank, while Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas tied for third place.

Cross-currency basis was a new category last year. JP Morgan remained in first place for the second year in a row, followed by Citigroup and Deutsche Bank in second and third place, respectively.

In GBP interest rate derivatives, NatWest Markets remained top for 10-50 year swaps but fell to second behind Barclays in the 2-10 year bucket. Barclays was also first for both GBP options and inflation, while NatWest Markets was second for options and HSBC was second for inflation. JP Morgan was third in sterling 2-10 year swaps and joint second in options. Deutsche Bank was third in 10-50 year swaps and Morgan Stanley remained third in GBP inflation.

Finally, JPY swaps and options saw Nomura, Mitsubishi UFJ, JP Morgan and Mizuho fight for the top three places, with Nomura first in both 10-50y swaps and yen options.

For information on reprints of the rankings, and permission to reproduce the results in any form, please contact sunil.sharma@totalderivatives.com or call +44 (0)20 7779 8556.