The resilience of ‘low touch’ Tricumen today publishes an analysis of the European cash equities market looking at the use of ‘high touch’ vrs ‘low touch’ and the impact of ‘low touch’ on the cost income ratio of cash equity trading units: We see no evidence of European investors shifting away from low to high […]

J.P.Morgan’s CIO Unit Tricumen today publishes details on J.P.Morgan’s CIO unit setting out its functions and historical performance.  We identify similar units at HSBC and Goldman Sachs and examine whether the recent losses support the view that prop trading should be curtailed through measures such as the Volcker rule.

The Basel Committee trading book proposals Tricumen today publishes its initial analysis of the Basel Committee on Banking Stability’s trading book proposals: Our initial analysis of the Basel Committee’s 3-May-12 consultative document suggests that the most stringent application of all proposals could increase risk-weighted assets (RWA) at CIB units of banks we cover by as […]

Performance of the Top Investment Banks in the 1st Quarter 2012 Tricumen today publishes its Capital Market Results Update for 1Q12, comprising granular analysis of product revenue for the world’s leading Investment Banks.

A Maturing Equity Derivatives Market in Asia ex-Japan The equity derivatives market in Asia ex-Japan is growing, and maturing.  Investors seek lightly structured, tailored product.  In our report we highlight 16 significant market segments, as defined by the size of clients’ ‘wallets’.   Successful banks appear to have a ‘balanced client portfolio’ across multiple segments, […]

Our initial ‘Ground Europe’ 4Q11/FY11 Results Update, published on 18-Feb-12, outlined our high-level forecasts for what we believe will be the key areas in 2012. This report details FY11/FY10 product and regional revenue trends for 21 ‘Level 2’ products1.

Performance of the Top Investment Banks in 4th Quarter 2011 Tricumen today publishes its Capital Market Results Update for 4Q11, comprising granular analysis of product revenue for the world’s leading Investment Banks.

Muni Market Resilience: why the sell side headcount matters In the not-too-distant past, various market observers predicted a wave of municipal bond defaults in 2011; the famous ex-bank analyst Meredith Whitney went further than most, expecting ‘hundreds of billions of dollars worth’ [of defaults] in the past year. This, of course, would have caused a […]

RBS restructuring plays on its strengths in capital markets Tricumen reviews the restructuring announced by Royal Bank of Scotland on 12 January 2012 and compares the bank’s profitability in the main FICC areas with those of Barclays Capital, BNP Paribas, Credit Suisse, and UBS.