Arik Reiss & team Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Bank of America Merrill Lynch repeats in second place. The Hong Kong–based crew, which is managed by Arik Reiss, is “distinguished by the best execution and idea generation of any derivatives team,” according to one buy-side enthusiast. Reiss says ongoing government intervention to address the most pressing macroeconomic issues — namely, “the strength of the U.S. economic recovery, the magnitude of the European sovereign-credit crisis and the degree of Chinese economic slowdown” — has resulted in the repeated repricing of risk across different investment strategies. The analysts see opportunities for money managers to hedge multiasset portfolios with equity options at volatility-driven discounts, given cheap equity volatility relative to other asset classes, high implied correlations and flatter skews in Asia versus Western markets — for the time being, anyway. “All of this could easily change within a matter of days, as markets reprice.” — ­Carolyn Koo