Industry Standard League Tables

You can't really justify a generic tier list like this. Some banks/firms are better than others in different departments, divisions and geographies.

Who's to say that UBS is a tier 1 in Europe vs. DB in the same geography, for instance?

ValueAdd,

While I agree with your comment, this list pertains to the prestige of banks which are generally in that order/tier. Prestige does not necessarily tie in to performance, and we are not analyzing it according to specific departments or divisions.

Citi and JPM don't usually don't have that much prestige on the street.

Wizard agreed..

I've always thought that Citi and JPM are the next best BBs after GS/MS. Even though they use their balance sheet extensively, they still have solid senior level bankers. How accurate do you think this is? Wizard, BBMA3rd year, who would say is the next best after the top 2?

great banks in terms of deals. In terms of pure prestige, according to The Street, it's ML, LEH and the rest of the pure plays. But, we're splitting hairs here. All of the ones in tier-1 above are very strong, and people who work for those banks are rich.

"Citi analyst" doesn't reek of prestige.

I'd say ML is third followed by LB/UBS/CS.

As this battle continues, I'd like to point to my initial argument which is that one cannot properly justify a ranking of banks (be it of prestige, performance or whatever). Everyone has their own personal opinion.

I know that Lehman has had a lot of momentum the past few years, but I'm not sure whether it will continue going forward. They're great in fixed income and Energy/Natural Resources, Consumer/Retail on banking side, but I don't any other strong groups in the bank. Especially in Fin. Sponsors/Lev. Fin. I haven't heard them being on any of the big LBOs. I think Leh is hyped up bit too much.

Merrill is probably third with maybe lehman or JPM 4th.

there's no way JPM is in the top 5. I'd say ML/LEH/UBS/CS are all in the same tier and it's group depedent. GS/MS far away on top, again I don't think there's a clear winner out of those two - I'd chose based on group.

westcoasting is right to certain extent.

m&a - ML re - ml hc - UBS, ml industrials - cs/ubs sponsors - cs media - ubs tech - cs energy - lehman/cs

...where Deutsche commands more prestige than UBS because it is a true European power house (I would not say they are leagues apart however....)

The BB's are the same so one would agree that GS, ML, MS are clear Tier 1, followed by JPM, Citi.

One would also put CSFB in the same league as UBS/Deutsche.

Wachovia is absolutely nothing in Europe. Ppl don't even know it exists. Same with the likes of other US mid-market players like Piper. In London these guys are not of any significance.

After UBS/DB/CSFB one would go with:

ABN, BNP, SocGen, HSBC, BarCap, Dresdner etc.

Controversial - but on this side it stacks up differently

From the ghetto....

I agree with tier2sta

in europe it goes

GS MS ML Citi, JPM UBS, CS, DB, Lehman

I'd put BarCap (and possibly ABN) way above BNP, SocGen, Dresdner. I mean...BNP and Dresdner don't even pay bonuses. BarCap is #1 or #2 in Europe for most of its desks.

Last year's 1st year analysts at Dresdner got 80% at least....

From the ghetto....