Brokers overcome market difficulties to increase service levels - survey

McLagan asked 176 leading Investment Managers, Private Banks and Hedge Funds to rank the leading brokers on their 2009 Operational Performance and Client Service offerings across Equities, Fixed Income and OTC Derivatives.

Broker performance has again risen significantly in many areas this year, particularly in US and Asian markets and for OTC Derivatives indicating that the market troubles of 2008 are now behind them and that in a competitive market, technology and processing improvement programmes are now firmly back on the agenda.

In the US:
• Liquidnet - Best 2009 Broker for Equities Operations
• Morgan Stanley - Best 2009 Broker for Fixed Income Operations
• Deutsche Bank - Most Improved Broker

In Europe, the results were as follows:
• UBS - Best 2009 Broker for Equities Operations
• UBS - Best 2009 Broker for Fixed Income Operations
• Deutsche Bank - Most Improved Broker

In Asia:
• UBS - Best 2009 Broker for Equities Operations
• UBS - Best 2009 Broker for Fixed Income Operations
• Morgan Stanley - Most Improved Broker

For Global OTC Derivatives
• Goldman Sachs - Best 2009 Broker for Core Processing
• Deutsche Bank - Best 2009 Broker for Client Management
• Morgan Stanley - Most Improved Broker

Commenting on the results, Simon Haggerty, Global Client Service Head at UBS said, "The goal of UBS Operations is to be the leading client-focused global service provider. With 176 clients rating 15 brokers across a range of products & measures, the report provides a comprehensive and credible viewpoint on our performance. One of the most accurate and independent methods by which we can measure our progress is for us to sponsor, support and analyse the feedback obtained from this annual survey."

"In particular, UBS has leveraged this feedback to help develop our 2010 client objectives - - that of delivering post trade service excellence. The feedback and rankings are taken seriously both within Operations, and also by our trading & sales partners."

"Providing superior services and support for our Members is why we've been voted number one for overall performance in US Equities Operations for the second year in a row, and we very much appreciate this recognition," said Seth Merrin, Founder and CEO of Liquidnet. "We continuously strive to deliver the best value and experience for our Members throughout the entire trading process."

A key factor of the survey results this year was the increase in usage of technology by the buy-side, particularly implementation of OMGEO CTM for both Equities and Fixed Income. This has contributed to the rise in Straight Through Processing (STP) particularly in Electronic Trade Matching which in turn has reduced fails and re-work in the back-office.

Carsten Eckhardt, Managing Director, Global Business Services at Deutsche Bank added, "Deutsche Bank has made a commitment to improving its operational processes in order to provide exceptional service to its clients. The McLagan Z/Yen survey is key in enabling us to assess the extent to which we have achieved these goals and in highlighting areas of focus for further improvement."