Bank of America Merrill Lynch and CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets have been ranked as the year’s top two brokers in Asian equity trading.
That is according to a survey conducted by Greenwich Associates that enquired about institutional preferences within equity research and trading. The survey was based on interviews with 238 respondents at Asia Pacific institutions for Asian equity research and 110 firms for equity trading.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch and CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets received market shares of 9.8% and 9.6%. Even though BAML apparently got its nose ahead, Greenwich declared it as a dead heat.
UBS is next with a market share of 9.0%, followed by Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs.
The Greenwich report claimed that what sets the Asian equities business apart from other major markets is the extent to which research and advisory services drive institutional trading volumes.
The report found that, “institutions allocate about two-thirds of the commissions they pay on trades of Asian equities as compensation to brokers for their research and advisory services. The remainder is mainly driven by value added via sales trading and agency execution.”
For Asian equity research, CLSA got the highest vote, polling 9.3%, followed by BAML with 9.1%. Greenwich also declared this result as a tie, with honours even.