This year marks the 20th anniversary of Institutional Investor’s All-America Fixed-Income Research Team as a stand-alone ranking. (Until 1992 fixed-income sectors had been included in the All-America Research Team.) To commemorate this milestone, we aggregated the data over the past two decades to determine which firm has racked up the highest number of team positions over that period. The winner? J.P. Morgan. The firm has captured 776 positions, nearly 100 more than second-place Barclays Capital, with 680. BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research finishes third, with 591 positions. Rounding out the top five are Credit Suisse and Citi, with 439 and 320 positions, respectively.When firms are ranked by the number of analysts and teams that have claimed the No. 1 spot in their respective sectors, BarCap is the clear winner, with 230 first-place finishes, 19 more than second-ranked J.P. Morgan. BofA Merrill, Credit Suisse and UBS round out the top five in that ranking.
To view the full list of firms ranked by their total team positions, click on the Leaders 1992–2011 tab in the navigation table at right. To view firms ranked by the number of times their analysts and teams have landed in the No. 1 spot in their sectors, click on First-Place Teams 1992–2011. First-Place Appearances 1992–2011 highlights those individuals who have led or co-led the teams that topped their sectors most often, while Most Appearances 1992–2011 highlights those analysts and team leaders who have ranked most often in the survey, regardless of position.
For information about our detailed Research Team reports, please contact Alyssa Walker at awalker@iiresearchgroup.com.
Picking the TeamInstitutional Investor selected the members of the 20th annual All-America Fixed-Income Research Team by surveying more than 1,600 money managers and buy-side analysts at some 520 institutions managing an estimated total of $11.6 trillion in U.S. fixed-income assets. We received responses from more than 90 percent of the 100 biggest fixed-income investors on the II300, our ranking of the biggest institutional investors in the U.S.
We made several changes to this year’s survey. We moved the former Emerging-Markets and Structured Securities sectors from the Research portion of the ballot to Economics & Strategy, to reflect the way in which many firms now cover these areas. Analysts must be certified pursuant to Regulation AC to be recognized as winners in Research sectors (i.e., High Yield and Investment Grade). No such restriction applies in Economics & Strategy.
A numerical score was produced for individual analysts and teams by weighting each vote based on the fund manager’s U.S. fixed-income assets under management and on the rank that the respondent awarded to the individual or firm (first, second, third). Winners also had to achieve a minimum vote count. Voters must meet eligibility requirements, and all ballots are subject to review.
Analysts or teams were designated runners-up when their scores fell within 35 percent of the third-teamer’s score. Analysts who changed firms after May 13, 2011, are cited at their previous organizations.
In Economics & Strategy, investors voted for both individual analysts and firms. In these sectors we combined individual and team votes to produce a tally for each firm; for each winning squad we recognize an individual designated as team leader by the firm.
We polled 19 High-Yield and 16 Investment-Grade Research sectors, all of which fielded complete teams (first through third places). In Economics & Strategy we asked about 26 sectors, all but three of which generated complete teams. In Emerging-Markets Local Strategy, we recognize only a first-place winner. Neither Commodities Strategy nor Distressed Strategy garnered sufficient votes for publication.
II’s ranking of the best U.S. sell-side fixed-income researchers was compiled by Associate Editor Denise Hoguet, under the direction of Senior Editor Tucker Ewing and Research Managing Editor Thomas W. Johnson.
For information about how this ranking was compiled, click on Methodology. For information about our detailed Research Team reports, please contact Alyssa Walker at awalker@iiresearchgroup.com.