Total appearances: 15

Team debut: 1996 Unseating four-time victor Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Credit Suisse vaults from third place to capture the top position for the first time since 2009. Captained by São Paulo–based Ivano Westin since he joined the firm in 2011, the team of four reports on 15 regional metals and mining players. “Ivano doesn’t get caught up in all the latest rumors that seem to distract many of his peers — a rarity,” one asset manager attests. “He is a fundamental analyst who incorporates both bottom-up and top-down elements in his investment theses.” In April 2013, Westin and his Mexico City–based colleages downgraded Peru’s Cia. de Mínas Buenaventura from outperform to neutral, owing to margin-crushing poor cost management and a lack of catalysts to spur precious metals prices. By late July 2014 the miner’s American depositary receipts had fallen to $11.95, tumbling 45.7 percent and lagging the sector by 36.9 percentage points. Before joining Credit Suisse, Westin, 37, spent 11 years working in the industry, including senior positions at Brazilian steel producer Cia. Siderúrgica Nacional Asia and Anglo-Australian mining behemoth BHP Billiton. He received an MBA from Brazil’s Fundação Getulio Vargas and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Brazil’s Centro Universitário de Ciências Gerenciais da Una. “With Ivano it’s pretty simple,” another client says. “I really appreciate his no-nonsense approach.”