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April, 2008 |
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Client Survey Shows Powerful Gains in Strategic Growth Areas
 The 2008 Global Custodian prime brokerage survey, released earlier this week, unequivocally demonstrated Merrill Lynch’s increased stature as a leading prime broker. With the magazine noting the firm’s "astonishing performance," clients ranked Merrill Lynch the #2 prime broker overall, up from 6th last year.
Importantly, the strong result was driven by broad-based improvements across virtually all areas of the prime brokerage business, with 90 best-in-class awards, up from 36 last year and noteworthy increases in absolute scores in Financing, Securities Lending, Cap Intro, Client Service, Consulting, Reporting and Technology.
Clients also noted the firm’s global strength and integration. "Merrill has come closer to integrating equities, fixed income and derivatives than some members of the triumvirate, and it has a genuine global reach, with full service operations in Hong Kong, Melbourne, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Johannesburg, as well as London and New York," said the magazine.
Global Custodian's prime brokerage survey has for more than two decades provided a vehicle for clients to judge the commitment providers have to the business and the quality of their services. This year, the survey covered 15 prime brokers across 9 service areas, with a total of 2,853 respondents.
Noting that Merrill Lynch's prime brokerage ambitions are now closer to "complete fulfillment," Global Custodian indicated that the firm "secures high scores from clients of every size and strategy." The European and Australian offices ranked best in class in all nine of the service categories.
The magazine also included several client comments on Merrill Lynch:
"Their excellent natural resources are at last being utilized," said one client. Another added that Merrill Lynch "continues to improve in personnel, client service and, most importantly in product breadth." Yet another commended Merrill Lynch’s capital introduction group, "The global capital introductions team is the best among all PBs."
And unlike several competitors, Merrill Lynch "defies the usual pattern of lower scoring in Europe: the admiration of its European clients matches or exceeds that of their American counterparts," the magazine said.
Summing it up, one major client said: "Merrill Lynch is providing a first class service in the area of prime brokerage, particularly for institutional hedge fund clients such as ourselves, and especially in the areas of stock loan, capital introductions and business consultancy."
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