This year’s Brokers Poll results threw up a few surprises while preserving a general state of stability in the ranks. And HSBC was the largest beneficiary.
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As in previous years, CLSA and UBS were among the top brokerages battling it out for the top spot, with CLSA prevailing to be voted as the best broker.
However, HSBC placed itself in the mix for the first time too. It rose to take second place for broking in Asia ex-Japan this year, forcing UBS back into third. It was an impressive showing, particularly given that the poll enjoyed its largest response rate to date.
The regional best broker category is defined by excellence in both research and sales. In each overall regional research and overall regional sales category, CLSA came first. However HSBC made an impressively strong move to second place in both overall regional research and sales categories, ensuring that it took silver in combined research and sales.
The UK bank’s ranking continues a spectacular rise over the past three years. The UK bank was placed outside the top 10 in 2010 for overall regional research and sales categories, but advanced into fifth in 2011.
Further down the ranks, there were movements among the big US and Swiss banks in overall regional research. Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse both improved their standings, while Goldman Sachs and Citi dropped a few places.
In the overall regional sales results, the rankings show smaller movements and are more consistent with last year’s poll results.