The All-Asia Sales Team

Overview

There’s a new leader in Asia equity sales.

Citigroup was chosen as the top seller of equity research in Asia — excluding Japan — in Institutional Investor’s 2019 All-Asia Sales Team. The result was determined based on responses from some 1,600 investment professionals representing more than 650 buy-side firms, who rated providers on their sales coverage across 12 countries and sectors.

This year — in line with other sell-side rankings produced by II — voters’ responses were weighted based on their relevant equity commissions. Citi debuted at the top of this new commissions-weighted leaderboard, followed by UBS in second. Morgan Stanley placed third, while CITIC Securities-owned CLSA took fourth. Credit Suisse rounded out the top five.

In addition to leading the commission-weighted ranking, Citi also topped a second leaderboard weighted by each voting firm’s Asian ex-Japan equity assets under management. The first-place ranking was a significant improvement from last year, when Citi placed fourth.

Elsewhere in the AUM-based ranking, Morgan Stanley moved up a spot to second place, while last year’s top firm, UBS, slipped to third.