Wednesday, September 21, 2011 Stamford, CT USA — Competition is heating up again among European banks in the business of selling structured products to retail, high net worth and private bank clients in Europe.
Greenwich Associates today announced its list of this year's Greenwich Leaders in European Retail Structured Products. No fewer than four firms are tied for first place in terms of market penetration. BNP Paribas, Barclays Capital, Société Générale, and The Royal Bank of Scotland all achieved penetration scores between 42% and 44% of the market and are the 2011 Greenwich Share Leaders in European Retail Structured Products.
The Royal Bank of Scotland is the Greenwich Quality Leader in Europe this year. Greenwich Quality Leader designations are based on ratings provided by clients of individual firms in a variety of categories related to strength of overall platform and quality of service.
Battle for Business
As the structured products market in Europe rebounded post crisis, many providers have invested in the business and platforms have become more and more competitive. Several historic competitors remain pan-European in scope and strategy, while others have focused their efforts. "The points of competition have shifted over the past few years," says Greenwich Associates consultant Andrew Awad. "In addition to price, firms are increasingly competing on value-added sales coverage and customers are benefiting in increased responsiveness to their needs, idea generation and stronger coverage for secondary transactions."
Some of the biggest gains among top-tier competitors were made by the Royal Bank of Scotland, which leveraged its strong overall platform and competitive pricing to increase its penetration scores to join the ranks of market leaders last year. Also making significant inroads over the past 12 months were UBS and Commerzbank.