In June, Bloomberg Markets named CIBC as one of the world’s strongest banks due to its ability to weather the crisis and remain profitable. It seems, however, that financial magazine Euromoney has a very different view of how global banking should be measured.
During its recent 2012 Awards for Excellence dinner, the European publication awarded Barclays—which continues to be mired in scandal—best global debt house, best investment bank, and global flow house of the year.
The magazine believes the bank is outpacing other institutions globally.
“Barclays Capital is now clearly one of the top half dozen investment banks in the world, when you combine both markets and banking. It’s the only foreign bank ever to become a top five player in the U.S.,” it says.
“Its FICC business remains a global leader, and its M&A and equity businesses are showing great momentum. This is a business that has crunched five years of growth into the space of just a couple of years.”
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JPMorgan, one of Barclays’ main competitors, did come out on top after the 2008 downturn. But it’s since tarnished its image beyond easy repair. After suffering a multi-billion dollar loss and ongoing investigations by regulators and the FBI, the bank is struggling to uphold its reputation.
Euromoney says Deutsche Bank and JPMorgan have successfully built their commodities trading businesses, but that “Barclays has sought to expand in cash equities and equity derivatives, and foreign exchange too.”
Also, it argues Barclays has regulatory foresight. The bank anticipated an announcement that all standardized OTC derivative contracts must be traded on exchanges or electronic trading platforms, as well as cleared through central counterparties, by the end of this year.
The magazine quotes Jerry del Missier, now resigned, in its reasoning. The former COO said the bank is well positioned, having come “out of the crisis in a stronger strategic position, which has allowed us to continue to win market share and build our franchise.” He has since cut all Barclays ties after CEO Diamond stepped down.
Nonetheless, Barclays is proud of its achievement, listing its other recent accolades in a release; these include best debt house in North America, best flow house in Western Europe, best debt house in Qatar, best debt house in Russia, best debt house in South Africa, and best equity house in UK. It was also named as best bank in Botswana and the UK.