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Jason Napier,
Matt Spick
& team
Deutsche Bank
"They provide very thorough and comprehensive coverage, and they respond quickly to requests."
The eight-strong Deutsche Bank squad takes first place for a second straight year. The crew, which tracks 41 institutions (six fewer than last year), is directed by London-based Jason Napier, 38, and Matt Spick, 40; it includes analysts in Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Stockholm, with two associates in India. One asset manager in Japan praises the team's "insightful product-level return analysis, which delivers a good basis for bottom-up stock picking." An example is Switzerland's Credit Suisse Group, which the researchers upgraded from hold to buy in August, at €18.45, on the belief that the market was underestimating the potency of cost-cutting initiatives. By late December the stock had risen 20.7 percent, to €22.26; during the same period the sector advanced 16.4 percent. The team believes that sustained deleveraging for European banks will run its course in 2013, accompanied by a modest rerating throughout the year. "This will be visible through better debt market issuance, reduced dependence on the European Central Bank and improving capital ratios," Spick says. — Leslie Kramer