Poll of Polls: Overall results
The likes of SBC Warburg Dillon Read, Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and Salomon Smith Barney may be disappointed in this year's poll of polls. Their performance is not much better than in past years, despite their headline mergers. The acquisition of BZW's equity and M&A interests from Barclays has hardly improved Credit Suisse First Boston's scores either. Instead, the banks to watch include Commerzbank, Paribas and ABN Amro, a steady climber in most of the surveys we published in 1997.
Most significant changes in this year's poll of polls take place below the top 10 banks. In the overall ranking, Dresdner Kleinwort Benson rises to 16 from 21, almost regaining its 1995 position (14), thanks to higher scores for trading and advising. Bankers Trust Alex Brown (22) does reap the benefits of its recent merger, rising from 47 and 77 respectively, and achieving high results in categories where the two banks previously scored zero.
The highest climber of all, however, is Commerzbank, which leaps 30 places to 23. Much of its success is due to improved underwriting and trading performance in bonds and also derivatives, through former subsidiary Commerz Financial Products, which is now a fully integrated part of the parent's global debt markets division.