Best bank
Royal Bank of Scotland
Best debt house
Barclays Capital
Best equities house
UBS
Best M&A house
Merrill Lynch
Best local partner
Collins Stewart
Royal Bank of Scotland is attracting attention across Europe for its increasing presence in a range of products including lending and securitization, in which it now has a portfolio across the region. In FX, too, it is now comfortably a top 10 bank globally. Corporate and investment banking gross profits for 2003 were up 11% over the previous year, at £7.15 billion ($13 billion).
And domestically, RBS is as strong as ever. It has banking relationships with 90% of FTSE 100 companies and it remains strong in cash management, retail banking and corporate services.
In debt capital markets, the past 12 months proved that UK banks cannot rely on winning mandates from key UK issuers. The large US dollar deal from the UK treasury excluded local banks, as did the inaugural UK covered bond from HBOS.
Citigroup had a great year, being involved with each of the highest profile issuers, including HBOS, GlaxoSmithKline, Network Rail, and the UK treasury in that dollar deal.